A 

THREE-FOLD TEST 



MODEM SPIRITUALISM. 



WILLIAM R. GORDON, D.D. 



'Tekbl: Thou art weighed in the halanccs, and art found wanting."— Dan. 5: 27. 



*x is7i ; 



/ 

NEW-YORK: 

CHARLES SCRIBNER, 377 & 379 BROADWAY. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

WILLIAM K. GOKDON, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 
the Southern District of New-York. 



JOHIST A. GRAY'S 

IRE-PROOF PRINTING OF! 

16 and IS Jacob Street, N. T. 



*\ 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface, 5 

Introduction, 7 

CHAPTER I. 

History op Modern Spiritualism, . . .19 

CHAPTER II. 

The First Test op Spiritualism, . . .81 

CHAPTER in. 

Parallel Manifestations among the Heathen, .156 

CHAPTER IV. 
Demonology, 174 

CHAPTER V. 

The Second Test of Spiritualism, . . .188 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAGE 

The Good and Evil of Spiritualism contrasted, 258 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Thied Test of Spieitualism : the Bible, . 290 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Doctrines of Spieitttalism stjbveesive of 
Cheistianity, and Heathenish, . . . 325 

CHAPTER IX. 

Wae upon Cheistianity peoclaimed, . . 345 

CHAPTER X. 

Addeess to Receeant Cheistians, . . . 3V5 

CHAPTER XI. 
A Woed to the Churches, 398 



PREFACE. 



It maybe thought by some, quite below the dignity of his char- 
acter and calling, for a Minister of the Gospel to waste his time 
by writing on the unworthy subject which this book professes to 
discuss. The author has no other apology to make but a differ- 
ence of opinion. He does not consider the subject beneath him, be- 
cause it has already attained results unusually great, for the period 
it has been before the world as a distinct individuality ; and for 
this reason, he hopes his time has not been wasted. 

Modera Spiritualism, whatever may be thought of its intrinsic 
merits, derives importance from considerations extraneous to 
these. It has enlisted in its service, men who have been honored 
with posts of influence and trust ; men who have as much to lose 
as others ; men of earnest purpose, who defend their position with 
tact, and display a mind made up in courage, worthy of any 
cause ; and men who write with force, and show an all-pervading 
earnestness at the cost of reputation : and they have succeeded 
in pushing their cause to the position of an influence that can not 
be met by the argument of contempt. The matter of its worth 
or worthlessness, does not alter the facts of its present power 
and increasing growth ; and as it is the solemn duty of the Gos- 
pel ministry, to influence the masses in favor of the cause they 
hold to be of vital interest to the souls of men, indifference to any 
thing interfering with their own success, is a sin of omission sur- 
charged with guilt. None understand this better than they. 



VI PKEFACE. 

We can not hope that such as have been led astray by this 
strange delusion, will be cured of their folly by their own dis- 
coveries ; and if they should, such discoveries would cost quite 
too much. It is better to prevent than to cure. We think, the 
reasons that prompted the composition of this book, will be fully 
understood when the courteous reader gets midway ; and with 
this intimation, we beg excuse for stopping here, and have good 
hope it will be granted; for long Prefaces are rightly judged to 
be, in most cases, quite too lengthy ; and when we may, it is best 
to secure the merit of being short. 



INTRODUCTION 



His readers have a right to know, in the outset, whether the au- 
thor has any thing to offer more than others who have preceded 
him, on the side of the question he proposes to discuss in this 
volume. It will be seen that he claims to have furnished in his 
work ample materials to enable them to judge for themselves 
both as to the intrinsic merits of the subject before them, and 
his qualifications, so far as they relate to his plan of investiga- 
tion ; and also his opportunities for getting at the truth. 

Some eight months have now elapsed since the writer actively 
began to explore for himself this subject of Modern Spiritual- 
ism. Long before that time, his attention had been called to it 
in his ordinary intercourse with wondering mortals, who having 
heard and seen wonderful things, "doubted of them whereunto 
this would grow." The effect was not to lead him to ridicule, 
but rather to admire the courage of some of the leaders who have 
been long known as reputable men, and whose position and in- 
fluence honestly gained, entitle them to be heard. The assail- 
ant's imputation of some unhappy proclivities of mind, discov- 
ered in them by personal friends who were too delicate to mention 
it before ; the sudden recollections of certain impressions of oddi- 
ties that their embrace of Spiritualism brought up to the minds 
of their former intimate friends, and all that genteel tenderness of 
slander, had the tendency to awaken in him a disposition to credit 
them for sincerity, and for a moral heroism, that did not quail at 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

the finger of scorn, in owning and defending a cause which the}' 
thought they had good reason to believe the cause of truth. Hero- 
ism is not always peculiar to the votaries of a good cause. 

Having heard of the additional demonstrative evidence of truth, 
corroborative of life and immortality brought to light in the Gos- 
pel, which they had received by an agency not seeming to square 
with the fitness of things, but which nevertheless had, for eight 
years past, baffled all efforts put forth to prove it a pure impos- 
ture of those engaged in its propagation, he considered it his 
duty to enter the list of sincere inquirers. Fully confirmed in 
the truth of Biblical inspiration, the proofs of which have been 
accumulating for ages, he did not conceive it an incredible thing, 
nor one unworthy of Heaven, that the key-stone in the arch of 
evidence should be furnished by angels, whose joy over penitent 
sinners would leap at the permission thus to awaken the dormant 
energies of men to the high theme of a glorious salvation. 

In this he saw nothing to contradict the Bible, for who is not 
familiar with the fact of spiritual intercourse between Heaven and 
earth in by-gone ages of which the Bible is a faithful record ? 
To this it has been the constant practice of Spiritualists to ap- 
peal, and the language which had met him, justified the belief 
that this movement, however hardly it might deal with sectarian- 
ism, was not by any means antagonistic to Christianity. He fell 
in with a "Weekly, devoted to this cause, called the Christian 
Spiritualist, bearing a motto from the lips of Jesus, and dated 
December 22d, 1855, from which he dipt an extract from a ser- 
mon by a Eev. gentleman who had become a convert, with re- 
marks by the editor, who seemed to be right-minded respecting 
the Bible as the standard of appeal in the matter of religion. 
Here it is : 

" We can do no better in this connection than to present an extract 
from a recent discourse upon this very subject, delivered in Brooklyn, 
by the Eev. Samuel Beswick, in which he clearly demonstrates from the 
Bible the fact of spirit intercourse with man. He says : 

" ' We will now cite the few Biblical demonstrations of the ministra- 
tions of spirits, and the immediate communications between the two 
worlds; and all our cases will be purely Biblical. In the Psalms 34 : 7, 
we read : " The angel of the Lord encampeth about them and deliver- 
oth them;" and in the same book of Psalms we read: "For he shall 
give his angel charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways." (90 : 2.) 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

We can see how easily this could be accomplished, when we see that 
the soul is already a spiritually-organized form and inhabitant of the 
spirit-world, and can be as readily assisted and communicated with by 
a guardian-angel as the body of one man with that of another. The 
Apostle Paul, speaking of angelic spirits, says: "Are they not all min- 
istering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of sal- 
vation?" In this passage wo are expressly taught that assisting man- 
kind, or constant communication with mankind, is not only a standing 
employment or office of angelic spirits, but that it is the only authorized 
use or office. Of course this assistance would include every possible va- 
riety of modes. Their duty is assistance in some mode to those who 
are heirs of salvation. This is not spoken of as a special or isolated case, 
but the universal duty of all ; not the duty of one or a few, but the 
duty of all ; it is the authorized duty of all, without exception, in some 
mode or other, according to requirements. It is the established law of 
the spirit-land; for Paul says, first : " Are they not all ministering spir- 
its ?" And this expression admits of no exception. Then, secondly, 
ho says, " sent forth to minister to those who are hens of salvation." 
And this expression of their being " sent forth to minister," shows it to 
be a duty imposed by the very law of Heaven on all its inhabitants. 
True, it is only Paul who says that this is the law of Heaven, and that 
this is the duty of all Heaven's sons. But then Paul affirms he was 
caught up into the third or highest heaven, and had an opportunity 
of speaking from experience. His testimony is not, therefore, to be 
lightly esteemed, nor invalidated by a doubt. His own history in the 
Acts bears testimony of his having thus been constantly ministered to ; 
and in the same Acts, when speaking of Peter's guardian-spirit, we 
havo the expression, "It is his angel." But to take a rapid survey of 
such guardianship, would strikingly illustrate this universal duty on all 
Heaven's sons, as stated by Paul. In the vision of Jacob's ladder, an- 
gels arc represented as constantly ascending and descending from heav- 
en to earth. Angels delivered Lot from Sodom, Jacob from Esau, Dan- 
iel from the lions, his three companions from the furnace, Peter from 
Herod, and the nation of the Israelites successively from the Egyptians, 
Canaanites, and Assyrians. Thus they conducted — that is, did the duty 
of ministering to Paul; they conducted Lot, Abraham, and the Israel- 
ites, in a season of great difficulty and danger, to places and circum- 
stances of safety and peace ; they conducted Gideon to the destruc- 
tion of the Mideanites; Joseph and Mary to Egypt; Philip to the Eu- 
nuch, and Cornelius to Peter, that they might impart a knowledge of 
the Gospel. Thus they comforted Jacob, at the approach of Esau; Dan- 
iel, in his peculiar sorrows and dangers; Zachariah, in the sufferings of 
his nation ; Joseph and Mary, in their perplexities ; Christ, in his ago- 
ny ; the Apostles and their companions, after his resurrection ; Paul, 
immediately before his shipwreck ; and the Church universally, by the 
testimony and instruction given in the Book of Eevelation by the Apos- 
tle John.' 

" With these proofs of spirit intercourse, together with hundreds of 
others that might be quoted from Scripture, we can well say with the 
author of the above extract, that it seems to us, from the Bible's teach- 
1* 



X INTRODUCTION. 

ing, that constant intercourse existed between the two worlds, in the 
early history of our race. It appears to have been the most universal 
of all convictions. The veil between them and the invisible world 
must have been slight indeed. It was no matter of dread or bewilder- 
ment to them, if, in the stillness of the sunset hour, stranger-feet drew 
near their dwelling, and the phenomena of both worlds became blend- 
ed into the vision ; forms, glorious with the majesty of holiness, entered 
beneath then roof to commune with them, and teach them, in their de- 
parting, that they had been with beings of another land. The very ab- 
sence of fear or wonder implies the original universality of such inter- 
course or opening of the spirit-sight. All the most ancient traditions are 
founded on an intercourse with the spirit-land; and the separation 
between the living and departed was held to have been marvellously 
slight." 

" But here the ' orthodox' skeptic may exclaim : ' True, I believe all 
this ; but what God permitted of old, he does not allow now.' To this 
we simply reply : God's laws are immutable. He never has, and we 
add, with all due reverence, he never can, change them ; for, could he, 
he would become a changeable and fickle being, and cease to be God. 
Now, as in the times of the Apostle Paul, the departed ' all are minis- 
tering spirits;' and the modern proof of spirit ministrations is as strong 
and positive as any to be found within the pages of the Bible." 

" When the skeptic will present us with the first positive assertion 
found in the Bible, that the ministration of angels or spirits was to cease 
with the exit in the body of the apostles of old ; when they will prove 
that the comforter promised by Jesus was only to be sent to his disci- 
ples, then in the flesh ; that the relation of what occurred on the day of 
Pentecost, and that the great light seen and the voice heard by Saul of 
Tarsus, are fables, then we will admit, not that we have any doubt of 
modern spirit intercourse, but that we question the truth of Scripture ; 
for, to prove this, we must ignore the Bible, and, as a consequence, the 
creeds and dogmas of a Christianity of eighteen hundred years' growth, 
must fall to the ground. 

""We could occupy every column of our paper in adducing further 
proof from the Bible of the truth of spirit intercourse, but we do not 
deem it necessary. But is it not a strange sight to see self-styled ' Or- 
thodox Christians' most cordially unite, cheek by jowl, with those whom 
they denounce as ' Infidels,' 'Atheists,' and ' unbelievers, in denying 
the truth of present spirit intercourse? Truly, the 'meek and holy 
Jesus' is wounded afresh and crucified anew in the house of his (pro- 
fessed) friends. 

" Having, at least to our own satisfaction, established from Scripture 
the fact of spirit intercourse, in times past, with man, we reserve until 
next week the proof, equally as positive and explicit, that we are now 
in communication with them — that 

' Millions of unseen beings walk the air, 
Both when we wake and when we sleep.' " 

The author had also met with the statement of Gov. Tall- 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

niadge, that the doctrines of the Bible were ratified to hirn by the 
testimony of spirits. 

Thus understanding the matter, and yielding to the importuni- 
ties and proffered pledges of success, given in the strongest terms, 
by men of science and accredited ability, who professed to have 
arrived at a sensible assurance in regard to the greatest possible in- 
terest to mankind, which all may have who seek, the writer deter- 
mined to investigate under their guidance, fully resolved to fol- 
low where truth might lead, though it might cost him a sacrifice. 
He commenced a perfect skeptic ; but now his skepticism is all 
gone. The investigation led to a conviction that the thousands 
of manifestations in this country and in Europe — a mere speci- 
men of which he has selected — are made by spirits. It is, so far 
as he can see, impossible to maintain a denial. The attempt has 
often been made, and as often failed. And let it be remembered 
that no man is entitled to pronounce upon the matter, unless he 
have in some way examined it to some extent. Dr. Coan of 
England, has truly said: "It is only by extensive familiarity 
with the existing literature of modern Spiritualism, that we can 
arrive at any correct idea of its true nature and extent ; and it is 
because the attention of observers in England has been so exclu- 
sively occupied with some of the more popular but least import- 
ant phenomena, that the information now prevalent is so inade- 
quate for the formation of sound and comprehensive conclu- 
sions." 

The same inadequate information has here also prevented, in 
thousands of instances, such conclusions as Dr. Coan mentions. 
This fact forcibly struck the writer before he met with the pam- 
phlet whence the above extract is made. He has seen at circles 
wonderful manifestations of physiognomy in persons to whom a 
little previous knowledge would have evidently been of some ser- 
vice. Hence he has ranged through a large portion of the " ex- 
isting literature," and given copious extracts upon which any 
man may make up his mind as to the nature of the whole. 

The theories of involuntary or unconscious muscular movement, 
— Electric, Mesmeric, Odylic — all alike prove inadequate to ex- 
plain the phenomena ; for none of them can originate the intelli- 
gence that is unmistakably produced, unless intellect be common 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

to matter and mind — a supposition not likely to receive admis- 
sion. We are therefore driven to the choice between material- 
ism and spiritual agency. 

While the writer declares for the latter, he as distinctly de- 
clares his belief that the spirits communicating, by no adequate 
proof, are shown to be the spirits of our departed friends ; 
because it is admitt ed that they may be personated, and often 
are personated by evil spirits ; neither is the proof adequate 
that they are good angels, because the same imposition is often 
detected, and the matter of their communications is manifestly 
too mawkish to sustain their pretensions. The whole movement, 
then, we accredit to a peculiar kind of angels, of whom our Sav- 
iour speaks. Our reasons are as follows : 

1. Many deceptions, confessedly, are practised ; and our spirit- 
ualists have not shown that they are able to prove those spirits, 
accepted as good, to be other than deceivers. 

2. This theory abundantly accounts for all the facts in the 
case, and the contrary can not be shown ; whereas all others sig- 
nally fail. 

3. The absence of dignified discourse, of respectable originality 
of combination in the most common ideas, the contradictory and 
often absurd nature of the things communicated, and their ten- 
dency to confuse and confound the operations of the mind, are 
precisely such results as might be expected from an evil agencj^. 

4. The denial of the grand leading doctrine of atonement for 
sin by the merits of Christ, upon which the Bible suspends hu- 
man salvation, is the very thing that, of all others, we might ex- 
pect from Satanic agency ; and this denial is persistently main- 
tained by those accepted as good spirits^ 

5. We are told to " put on the whole armor of God, that we 
may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil." We are 
taught to be aware, lest we " fall into the condemnation of the 
Devil," lest we " fall into the snake of the Devil." We are ex- 
horted to "resist the Devil," who, "as a roaring lion, walketh 
about, seeking whom he may devour." And with greater precision 
we are told that for the purpose of deception, " Satan himself is 
transformed into an angel of light," and that in accordance with this 
his manifestation, antichrist shall deceive many in the latter days. 



INTRODUCTION. Xlll 

We are admonished of the " depths of Satan." Now, when the 
wiles, the snares, the depths of Satan, who is of much experience, 
cunning, and power, are presented in Scripture as to be brought 
out " with all deceivableness" in the latter days; and when we 
consider what has been done and is now doing the world over 
by spiritualism and its manifestations, it is perfectly clear that 
nothing in this whole movement has been presented incompatible 
with these wiles, and these depths of the adversary of mankind. 
On the contrary, the sayings and doings of these spirits are 
exactly such as are in keeping with the prophetical declarations 
of Scripture. To accomplish their object, it would seem, they 
feel the necessity of the present simultaneous effort to bring 
the Bible into disrepute, to deny the essentials of salvation 
as presented therein ; and if they can succeed here, it will be 
worth all their pains and expenditure of crafty effort to counterfeit 
the true and the good. 

6. The discoveries of the writer soon led him into the fact, that 
all the good spirits everywhere thus engaged, deny the existence of 
the Devil and his angels, and seem anxious to convince men that 
these arc mere mythologic creatures, whose existence and agency, 
as presented in the Bible, are purely fictitious. Now, it is quite 
clear that this is just what a cunning devil would do ; for should 
he stick out his split foot, he could not very well explain such a 
" manifestation." 

On the subject of Spiritualism, a very prominent and well-con- 
ducted review, widely circulated among us, holds the following 
language: 

"We believe that all notice taken of these mediums, familiar spirits, 
and necromancers, such as implies anxiety to explain their movements, 
and to find the secret of them, and especially all attempts to give them 
the dignity of originating in and bringing to light a new power of nature, 
Odylic or otherwise, increase rather than abate the nuisance. These 
things thrive on notoriety and attention. But let them be utterly ab- 
jured on this plain ground, that if mere tricks of man, they are detesta- 
ble, and if too much for man, they are from Satan, and so still more de- 
testable ; they will not long survive this treatment, and the trade will 
soon come to an end." 

The writer of the above is evidently unacquainted with the 
subject. Modern spiritualism, be it remembered, does not present 
itself as a mere puzzle for the wise explorers of nature, but most 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

pertinaciously thrusts itself in our faces as a religious system, es- 
sentially catholic and Christian, holding forth an additional revela- 
tion of unseen and hitherto undescribed worlds, having an im- 
mense advantage over all present forms of belief, and avowedly 
designed, by the declarations of leading spirits in and out of the 
body, to overthrow the Bible as the rule of faith and practice. 
It is an outspoken, antagonistic religion, claiming to be the Christ- 
ian, hostile to all the forms and sects of the day, and announcing 
itself as the destroyer of the outward Christian Church, and its 
own substitution as the true embodiment of. a purified, reformed 
Christianity. The proof is given in the sequel. These. extravagant 
pretenses will doubtless be laughed at by that very respectable 
and staid class of men who are represented by the writer just 
quoted. We hope we shall not forfeit whatever claims we may 
be supposed to have to similar virtues, by differing from them. 

Be it remembered, that the argument of contempt in the case 
of a far more contemptible cause, Mormonism, was thought 
would work wonders ; that it could not long survive this treat- 
ment, and that the trade would soon come to an end. What is the 
result ? Mormonism is at this hour one of the blackest, heaviest 
clouds resting upon our political horizon. The religious element at 
first predominated in this system ; hence the success of its im- 
postures. Had it been attacked and exposed in the'outset, instead 
of being left to the stings of contempt ; had the world been 
instructed as to its nature and operations by discussion, thousands 
of foreigners who have been left an easy prey to its plausible ad- 
vocates, emissaries, and missionaries, would have been made 
aware of its true character, and would never have left their homes 
in other countries, the victims of a delusion from whose snares 
and wilderness-fastnesses they can not now escape. 

When Mohammedism arose, its absurdities were left for the 
most part to the argument of contempt. Its shrewd leader was 
many years in making a few converts, but we know what were 
the ultimate measures and success of the movement. 

The advantage of modern Spiritualism is in the crafty adapta- 
tions of asserted spiritual intercourse, to accomplish greater 
wonders. Accordingly it has in the short space of eight years 
rolled up a few millions of adherents, while its affinities and 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

tendencies will secure the sympathies of a vast number ignorant 
of its claims, and unprepared to withstand the argument of 
physical manifestations that no mortal can account for on any 
natural principles. Its inherent ability to deceive and con- 
sequently to ruin the ill-informed but sincere, is far greater 
than any delusion that ever attacked the weak side of human 
nature. Therefore we think the well-meant advice in the "Re- 
view" is given in ignorance of the capabilities of the thing spok- 
en against, without regard to sound experience, with a seemingly 
culpable indifference to the souls of men, and the movements of 
the enemy, and in direct opposition to the injunctions of the 
Gospel. We meet spiritualism therefore as a religious system and 
a sworn foe to the Church of Christ. 

The early champions of Christ battled heroically and success- 
fully against ancient mediums, familiar spirits, and necroman- 
cers ; and shall we take the opposite course and allow the 
strongest elements of old paganism to be entrenched under our 
noses, behind the fair front of true Christianity ? Shall we sup- 
pose they will be annihilated by the potency of our contempt ? 
Who cares for contempt when he may thrive under its fancied 
inflictions? Is not that a very strange argument for a " soldier 
of the cross" to take into his mouth, in the latter part of the 
above quotation ? If it be sound now, it would have been good 
against the Apostle Paul and his immortal coadjutors, respect- 
ing their attacks upon the strongholds of sin. ! . 

Supineness upon the part of the lovers of the Church and of 
well-ordered society, is all that is needed to give advantage to an 
enemy. The writer thinks it impossible to magnify the evils 
that may grow out of the subject that has here engaged his atten- 
tion, and to which he solicits the attention of his readers. He 
looks at it as a system not yet fully organized, but soon to be 
developed, and worked with skill. Its tendencies and possible 
results demand and must receive attention. While he condemns 
it by evidence intrinsic and extrinsic to itself, he desires to say, 
that he does not deny the sincerity of the most of those engaged in 
its propagation ; but holds that Spiritualists are craftily deluded. 
The evidence is in the sequel. The spirits they rely upon teach, 
and they believe, that there are no such adversaries of mankind 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

as those to whom the writer attributes this movement ; they try 
to show it is the work of a heavenly agency. He applies his 
three-fold test, and has just that amount of assurance as 
enables him to stand up and say, that he has made out his case. 
He considers that Spiritualists are all sadly imposed upon, and 
they consequently impose upon others by such assurances as 
have been already mentioned, and which are never realized. He 
thinks it his duty to furnish material enough, in the extracts 
he has made from their original pages, to enable those who have 
not enjoyed, or will not avail themselves of his opportunities, 
calmly and intelligently to discuss this whole matter and present 
it in its true light. 

Of this our authors can not complain, because it is just 
what they ask; besides, none have suffered so much abuse 
at their hands, as ministers of the Gospel, under the name of 
"priests," contemptuously bestowed ; who in various quarters 
are sneeringly challenged and maliciously mocked. These mani- 
festations, we take to be confirmatory of our position. It can not 
therefore be a grievance, if plainness of speech be used. The 
subject demands it, and an earnest opponent, who really wishes 
to get at truth in a discusssion, will readily pardon what are 
popularly called " hard hits," when fairly given. 

As it is desirable that Christians should have at the smallest 
expense, a reliable " Dictionary of Quotations" — a copious vol- 
ume of " Elegant Extracts," upon which they may safely draw, 
whenever they come in contact with Spiritualists, this object has 
been kept in view, while at the same time the large amount of 
heterogeneous matter, or "brain-dribble" from spirits, furnish 
the basis for argument against themselves. The design of this 
book is to give a picture of Spiritualism, limned by its own 
artists. And it is not too much to expect that they who read it, 
if not already infatuated, will turn away with ineffable disgust 
from a system having nothing to relieve it from the merited 
execrations of God, angels, and men ; a system whose involutions 
have concealed manifold misery to unsuspecting thousands, and 
if there be any truth in the Bible, must ultimately unfold to its 
unhappy followers the bitterness of " progression" in banishment 
from God. 



IOTEODUCTION. XVU 

The writer asks none to accept his opinion, but he does ask 
that his book be read, before that opinion be condemned. His 
opinion is, that spiritualism is all evil without any good worthy 
the name, and therefore it is the agency of the Devil; for noth- 
ing can come by chance, nor can God be the author of such a 
system. 

There are many besides spiritualists, who will probably sneer 
at this account of the matter. We shall find no fault, provided 
they read the sequel ; yet we can not help thinking, that they who 
are so utterly incredulous as to evil as well as good spiritual 
agency connected with this movement, show too much of the 
Sadducee, while their professed belief in Bible facts has a doubt- 
ful aspect in the light of their colloquial commentaries. Mere 
intellectual Christianity finds great difficulty in admitting $n im- 
mediate direct spiritual agency upon the human soul, whether it 
be evil or good ; but we need not say this is not the Christianity 
of the Bible. 

Although the author was led into the investigation of this sub- 
ject from the facts of many having been drawn off from the Church 
by its fascinating influence, of several ministers of the Methodist 
Church having embraced it, of the serious way in which men of 
acknowledged ability treated it, of the bewildered state of mind 
produced in many well-disposed persons in and out of church 
communion, that he might be able, to some extent, to satisfy 
those who addressed him on " what he thought of it," yet he had 
no idea of being brought into the position he now occupies before 
the reader ; but when once in for it, the fascination of pursuit 
became powerful. And while he desires to say, it is not safe for 
any one to pursue the matter as long and as hard as he has done, 
and would persuade every one to keep aloof from it altogether, 
he docs not regret the loss of money and time, and the trials 
of nerve to which he has been subjected, because he hopes 
it may result in good to others ; and in his own case, so fortify 
him in the belief of the truth, that he can say with a stronger 
emphasis than ever : " "We are not ignorant of Satan's devices." 
(2 Cor. 2 : 11.) 

New-York, July 31st, 1856. 



A THREE-FOLD TEST. 



CHAPTER I. 



" Raise me a Spirit 1 
Awake ye dead ! Out with the secret, death I"— Festus. 

HISTORY OF MODERN" SPIRITUALISM. 

A Materialist's Opinions — Debut of the Spirits — Statements of Mrs Fox, 
Mr. Duesler, aad Mr. Fox — The first Medium— Spiritual Pulling and Haul- 
ing — Spirit-hands— Diabolism — Alarming "Wonders — Floating in the Air 
— Wrestling with a Spirit— Spiritual Performances and Musical Wonders 
— Intelligence displayed — A Funny Spirit — Diabolical Conduct — An 
Earthquake — A rude Spirit — A Possession — Dr. Hare's Spirit-testing Ma- 
chine — An Estimate of the Subject. 

The subject of Modern Spiritualism will form a very 
remarkable chapter in the Book of the Chronicles of the 
nineteenth century. Its materials are now rapidly gath- 
ering in volumes large and small, in pamphlets and weekly 
papers, that will employ the skill and ingenuity of some 
future writer to set forth the new and strange combina- 
tions of fact and fiction, peculiar to this movement, in 
well-adjusted paragraphs upon the reality, romance, and 
philosophy of modern history. 

We are quite too early for an attempt of this kind, 
were we disposed to make it ; for it is but a short time 
since the installment of this cause as a superior claimant 



20 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

for public attention and popular favor. Nothing can 
therefore he expected here beyond a succinct account of 
its origin and progress, for the sake of completeness to 
our work, and for the satisfaction of those of our readers 
who have been swayed more by contempt than by curiosity 
in regard to it. That this may be done in the most ac- 
ceptable manner, we deem it best to let our Spiritualists 
speak for themselves, that we may be free from a charge 
which otherwise might be thought to he against us on 
the score of incompetency. 

The quotations in this chapter, are mainly taken from 
a work called " Modern Spiritualism : its Facts and Fa- 
naticisms. ByE. W. Capron." Pp. 438. This work, among 
the early publications of Spiritualists, compiled from a 
mass of facts upon which the system is built, reaching 
down to October, 1854, and containing the deductions 
and opinions of the author to some extent, is well put to- 
gether ; and is much prized by them as the best account, 
so far as it goes. 

Although the so-called spiritual demonstrations are but 
of yesterday, writers in defense of then' extra-mundane 
origin, now begin to draw upon antiquity for a more re- 
putable character than mere modern " Knockings" can 
furnish to the "new dispensation." Hence the recent 
phenomena are considered as the renewed mutterings and 
intonations of an old volcano, long since thought to be 
burnt out ; but whose present activity reveals a great 
mistake under the reign of which many generations have 
unfortunately lived and died. Thus the aforesaid author 
begins his introduction : 

" In searching out the history of Spiritual Manifesta- 
tions, or occurrences analogous to what is now known as 
the modern manifestations, the discovery is at once made 
that they date back to a period so remote that the his- 






A MATERIALIST'S OPINION. 21 

tory of no age or country is exempt from accounts of 
them. Histories dating back further than any thing- 
known or recorded in the Bible, are proof of their being 
known at a period beyond the compilation or writing of 
that book ; while the book itself contains so many evi- 
dences of precisely similar occurrences, that the attentive 
reader can not resist the conviction that the occurrences 
were the same in fact, whatever the people of that age 
may have thought of them, or however exaggerated they 
made their importance in the record. By comparing the 
story of the Witch of Endor with any ordinary case of 
spirit-seeing clairvoyance of the present time, its wonder, 
mystery, and sacredness, beyond that sacredness that 
truth should always command, at once disappear. The 
spirit that passed before the face of Job, ' in thoughts of 
the visions of night, when deep sleep falleth upon man,' 
is no uncommon occurrence at the present day ; while the 
handwriting on the walls of Belshazzar's palace has its 
analogy in hundreds of instances of modern spiritual man- 
ifestations." 

After quoting a long narrative drawn up by Dr. Adam 
Clark, and published in the " Memoirs of the Wesley 
Family," containing many wonderful things terrifying to 
mortals, he assures us that 

" Precisely similar occurrences took place in Wines- 
burg, Germany, and other places, from the year 1825 to 
1828, the authentic accounts of which are given in a work 
by Justinus Kerner, called ' The Seeress of Provorst.' 

" The ' Seeress' was a clairvoyant, and both saw and 
heard the spirits of various persons." 

In accounting for these phenomena, it will be seen that 
Mr. C. is a materialist, believing that spirit is Matter, in 
its most refined state, in which it has the attribute of in- 
telligence ! Thus he writes, pp. 29-30 : 

" There must certainly exist some natural cause, by 
which these sounds are made. By natural causes I do 
not mean that the cause is positively known to man at 
the present time r or that it is produced by machinery oi 



22 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

collusion of any kind. I know this is not the case. But, 
as nothing can exist without a cause, and as the laws of 
nature are the most perfect of any thing we can have any 
conception of; and as nothing of which man or any other 
production of these laws can conceive or recognize can 
be superior or above these laws, (unless it be the source 
from whence they originated,) I speak of the laws which 
govern this communication between inferior and superior 
intelligences as perfectly natural. „ I ask to be pointed to 
nothing superior to this in the investigation of the subject. 

" Neither would I make the separation . that some do 
between spirit and matter. I am convinced that no such 
separation exists. ; It is at the same time to assert that it 
is something and nothing. If it is not matter, it is noth- 
ing. It is the height of absurdity to assert that there is 
an absolute existence," and yet it is not matter — it is 
nothing, yet to be talked of, to, and about. That there 
exists matter too refined, subtile, and sublimated, for our 
vision in a normal state to observe, is undoubted ; and I 
have as little doubt of there being intelligent beings who, 
beyond our vision, still have an influence upon us, and are 
entirely capable of communicating with us through sounds, 
impressions, and various other means. It is no more proof 
that they are not thus about us, because not seen, than 
that electricity, or the numerous animalculse which we are 
constantly eating, drinking, and breathing, although un- 
seen, do not exist for the same reason. It may not be 
unprofitable to go into the examination of the connection 
between spirits and other matter, in this connection, in 
order that the reader's mind may be prepared for the de- 
velopment of facts which may look still more strange 
than those already related. 

" In regard to the rapping sounds, and other phenom- 
ena and their existence, there is no longer room for doubt. 
The tens of thousands of individuals who have heard 
them, and who have been in full possession of then - senses, 
and not easily to be deceived, are abundant testimony on 
this point. 

" The connection between spirit and other matter, or be- 
tween the visible and invisible world of human beings, is 
at present little understood. I am of the opmion that 



DEBUT OF THE SPIRITS. 23 

the connection is far more intimate than is generally be- 
lieved. Of this fact there is the most positive and con- 
vincing proof. Many may be so averse to receiving new 
truths, which set aside all their preconceived opinions, as 
to disregard the positive evidence of their senses. But 
most men are not willing to admit that they are so easily 
imposed upon, as many think, or pretend to think, they 
are themselves. , . 

" The highest form of organization of which we have 
any conception, and which probably is the highest, is that 
which manifests intelligence. The forms of intelligence, 
or their manifestations, are various, defined by some as 
instinct and reason. It is useless to undertake the task 
of tracing them, through their different gradations, up to 
the highest developments of reason. There is in this, as 
in tracing the various forms of vegetable and animal life, 
a connection so intimate and perfect, that it is impossible 
to tell where the lower ends and the higher begins, so 
closely interwoven are the finks of the great chain of 
which each is a part." 

The manifestations, said to be made by spirits, are 
abundant and various ; and our selections from this au- 
thor, will be mere samples of what are published in many 
volumes. We go on with our quotations : 

DEBUT OF THE SPIEITS. 

"The house at which the manifestations first com- 
menced, that have turned the eyes of the people of this 
generation to a more min ute and careful investigation of 
spiritual phenomena than has characterized any preceding 
age, stands among a cluster of houses known by the name 
of Hydesville, in the town of Arcadia, county of Wayne, 
and State of New- York. It is a small framed building, 
one and a half stories high, and at the time of the occur- 
rences which have made it a matter of interest and curi- 
osity to so many thousands, bore unmistakable evidences 
of age ; and had been the humble shelter of many a 
family previous to that of Mr. Fox. 

"The family of Mr. Fox were well known in the 



24 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

neighborhood where they resided. Mr. and Mrs. Fox 
were connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of 
which they had for many years been exemplary members, 
and had sustained a character unimpeachable for truth 
and veracity. No one who knew them had the least sus- 
picion of their honesty or truthfulness. At the time these 
occurrences first took place in the family there were living 
with the parents three daughters, the youngest about 
twelve years of age. 

" The following statements, condensed, will give the 
account of the first disturbances at the house of Mr. Fox, 
in their own language. 

"STATEMENT OF MRS. MARGARET FOX. 

" ' I am the wife of John D. Fox. We moved into this 
house on the 11th of December, 1847, and have resided 
here ever since. We first heard this noise about a fort- 
night ago. It sounded like some one knocking in the east 
bedroom, on the floor. Sometimes it sounded as if a 
chair moved on the floor ; we could hardly tell where it 
was. This was in the evening, just after we had gone to 
bed. The whole family slept in the room together, and 
sill heard the noise. There were four of our family, and 
sometimes five. The first night we heard the rapping we 
all got up, lit a candle, and searched all over the house. 
The noise continued while we were hunting, and was 
heard near the same place all the time. It was not very 
loud, yet it produced a jar of the bedsteads and chairs, 
that could be felt by placing our hands on the chairs, or 
while we were in bed. It was a feeling of tremulous mo- 
tion, more than a sudden jar. It seemed if we could 
hear it jar while we were standing on the floor. It con- 
tinued this night until we went to sleep. I did not go to 
sleep until nearly twelve o'clock. The noise continued 
to be heard every night. On Friday night, March 31st, 
it was heard as usual, and we then, for the first time, 
called in the neighbors. Up to this time we had never 
heard it in the daytime, or, at least, we did not notice it 
at all during the day. 

" ' On Friday night we concluded to go to bed early, 



MRS. FOX'S STATEMENT. 25 

and not let it disturb ns ; if it came we thought we would 
not mhid it, but try to get a good night's rest. My hus- 
band was here on all these occasions, heard the noise, and 
helped search. It was very early when we went to bed 
this night ; hardly dark. We went to bed early, because 
we had been broken so much of our rest that I was almost 
sick. 

" ' My husband had gone to bed when we first heard 
the noise this evening. I had just laid down when it 
commenced, as usual. I knew it from all other noises I 
had ever heard in the house. The girls, who slept in the 
other bed hi the room, heard the noise, and tried to make 
a similar noise by snapping their fingers. The youngest 
girl is about twelve years old. She is the one who made 
her hand go. As last as she made the noises with her 
hands or fingers, the sounds followed up in the room. It 
did not sound different at that time ; but it made the 
same number of raps the girl did. When she stopped 
the sounds would stop for a short time. The other girl, 
who is in her fifteenth year, then spoke, in sport, and 
said, "Now do just as I do. Count, one, two, three, 
four," etc., at the same time striking one hand in the 
other. The blows which she made were repeated, as 
before. It appeared to answer her by repeating every 
blow she made. She only did so once. She then began 
to be startled, and I said to the noise, " Count ten," and 
it made ten strokes or noises. Then I asked the ages of 
my different children successively, and it gave the num- 
ber of raps corresponding to the ages of each of my 
children. 

" ' I then asked if it was a human being making the 
noise, and, if so, to manifest it by the same noise. There 
was no noise. I then asked if it was a spirit ? if it was, 
to manifest it by two sounds. I heard two sounds as 
soon as the words were spoken. I then asked if it was 
an injured spirit, and, if so, to give me the sound ; and I 
heard the rapping distinctly. I then asked if it was in- 
jured in this house, and the sounds were immediately 
made, distinctly; if the person was living that injured it, 
and got the same answer. I then ascertained, by the 
same method, that its remains were buried under the 

9 



26 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

dwelling, and how old it was. When I asked how many 
years old it was it rapped thirty-one times ; that it was a 
male ; that it had left a family of five children ; that it 
had two sons and three daughters, all living. I asked if 
it left a wife, and it rapped ; if its wife was then living, 
and there was no rapping ; if she was dead, and the rap- 
ping was distinctly heard ; how long she had been dead, 
and it rapped twice. 

" ' About this time I asked, " "Will the noise continue 
if I call in some of the neighbors, that they may hear it 
too ?'•' It answered as usual, by rapping. My husband 
went and called Mrs. Redfield, our next-door neighbor. 
She is a very candid woman. The girls were then sitting 
up in bed, somewhat terrified, and clinging to each other. 
I was as calm, I think, as I am now. Mrs. Redfield came 
immediately. This was about half-past seven o'clock. 
She came in thinking to joke and laugh at the children ; 
but when she came she saw that we were all amazed like, 
and that there was something in it. I then asked a few 
questions, and they were answered as before ; and she 
was satisfied that there was something strange about it. 
It told her age exactly. She would then call her husband, 
and he came, and the same questions were asked over 
again, and the answers were the same as before. It was 
then asked how long it had been injured, and the sound 
was repeated four times, at regular intervals, and then, 
after a short pause, once more ; the same being repeated 
every time the same question was asked. 

" ' Then Mr. Redfield called in Mr. Duesler and wife, 
and several others. A great many questions were asked 
over, and the same answers given as before. Mr. Duesler 
then called Mr. and Mrs. Hyde ; they came, and also Mr. 
and Mrs. Jewell. Mr. Duesler asked many questions, and 
got the answers. I then named over all the neighbors I 
could think of, and asked if any of them had injured it, 
and got no answer. Then Mr. Duesler asked it some 
questions, the same as I had, and got the same" answers. 
He asked if it was murdered, and it answered in the usual 
way; if the murderer could be brought to justice, and 
there was no sound ; and then if he could be punished 
by law, and there was no rapping. He then asked, " If 



MRS. FOX'S statement. 2 V 

this murderer can not be punished by law, manifest it by 
the noise ?" and the noise was repeated. In the same 
way Mr. Duesler ascertained that it was murdered in the 
bedroom about five years ago, and that the murder was 

committed by Mr. , on one Tuesday night, at 

twelve o'clock ; that it was murdered by having its throat 
cut with a butcher-knife ; that the body did not remain 
in the room next day, but was taken down cellar, and 
that it was not buried until the next night ; that it was 
not taken down through an outside door, but through 
the buttery, down the stairway ; that it was buried ten 
feet below the surface of the ground. It was then asked 
if money was the object of the murderer ; and the rapping 
commenced. How much money was obtained ? Was it 
one hundred dollars ? two hundred ? three hundred ? 
four hundred ? No noise. Five hundred ? The usual 
rapping was heard. We were all in the bedroom at the 
time. 

" ' Many called in that night who were out fishing in 
the creek, and they all heard the same noise. The same 
questions were frequently repeated as others came in, and 
the same answers were obtained. Some of them staid 
here all night. I and my family all left the house but 
my husband. I went to Mrs. lledfield's and staid all 
night ; my children staid at some of the other neighbors. 
My husband and Mr. Redfield staid in the house all 
night. 

" ' On the next day the house was filled to overflowing 
all day. This was on Saturday. There was no sound 
heard during the day ; but in the evening the sound 
commenced again. Some said that there were three 
hundred people present at this time. They appointed a 
committee, and many questions were asked. I did not 
know much what was done that night, only by hearsay, 
as I went to Mr. Duesler's to stay all night. 

" ' On Sunday morning, the second of April, the noise 
commenced again, and was heard throughout the day by 
all who came there. On Saturday night they commenced 
digging the cellar, and dug until they came to water, and 
then gave it up. The noise was not heard on Sunday 
evening, nor during the night. Stephen B. Smith and 



28 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

wife, and David S. Fox and wife, slept in the room this 
night. I have heard nothing since that time until yester- 
day. In the forenoon of yesterday there were several 
questions answered in the usual way by rapping. I have 
heard the noise several times to-day. 

" ' I am not a believer in haunted houses or superna- 
tural appearances. I am very sorry there has been so 
much excitement about it. It has been a great deal of 
trouble to us. It was our misfortune to live here at this 
time ; but I am willing and anxious that the truth should 
be known, and that a true statement should be made. I 
can not account for these noises ; all that I know is, that 
they have been heard repeatedly, as I have stated. I 
have heard this rapping again this (Tuesday) morning, 
April 4th. My children also heard it. 

" ' I certify that the above statement has been read to 
me, and that the same is true ; and I am willing to make 
oath to it if necessary. (Signed) Margaret Fox. 

'"April 11th, 1848.' 

" Mr. John D. Fox gives a certificate corroborating 
his wife's statement in every particular, and says : ' I do 
not know in what way to account for these noises, as 
being caused by natural means. We have searched in 
every nook and corner in and about the house, at different 
times, to ascertain, if possible, whether any thing or any 
body was secreted there that could make the noise ; and 
have never been able to find any thing that explained the 
mystery. It has caused us a great deal of trouble and 
anxiety. Hundreds have visited the house, so that it is 
impossible to attend to our daily occupations ; and I 
hope, whether it be natural or supernatural, the means 
will be found out soon." 

" STATEMENT OF WILLIAM DUESLEE. 

" ' I five in this place. I moved from Cayuga county 
here last October. I five within a few rods of the house 
in which these noises have been heard. The first I heard 
any thing about them was one week ago last Friday even- 
ing, (31st day of March.) Mrs. Redfield came over to my 
house to get my wife to go over to Mr. Fox's. Mrs. 



MR. DUESLEE'S STATEMENT. 29 

Redfield appeared to be very much agitated. My wife 
wanted I should go with them, and I accordingly went. 
When she told us what she wanted us to go over there 
for, I laughed at her, and ridiculed the idea that there 
was any thing mysterious in it. I told her it was aU non- 
sense, and that it could easily be accounted for. This 
was about nine o'clock in the evening. There were some 
twelve or fourteen persons there when I got there. Some 
were so frightened that they did not want to go into the 
room. I went into the room and sat down on the bed. 
Mr. Fox asked questions, and I heard the rapping, which 
they had spoken of, distinctly. I felt the bedstead jar 
when the sound was produced. 

" ' Mrs. Fox then asked if it would answer my ques- 
tions if I asked any, and if so, rap. It then rapped three 
times. I then asked if it was an injured spirit, and it 
rapped. I asked if it had come to hurt any one who was 
present, and it did not rap. I then reversed this question, 
and it rapped. I asked if I or my father had injured it, 
(as we had formerly lived in the house ;) there was no 
noise. Upon asking the negative of these questions, the 

rapping was heard. I then asked if Mr. (naming a 

person who had formerly lived hi the house) had injured 
it, and if so to manifest it by rapping ; and it made three 
knocks louder than common, and at the same time the 
bedstead jarred more than it had done before. I then 
inquired if it was murdered for money, and the knocking 
was heard. I then requested it to rap when I mentioned 
the sum of money for which it was murdered. I then 
asked if it was one hundred, two, or three, or four, and 
when I came to five hundred the rapping was heard. All 
in the room said they heard it distinctly. I then asked 
the question if it was five hundred dollars, and the rap- 
ping was heard. 

" ' After this, I went over and got Artemas W. Hyde 
to come over. He came over. I then asked over nearly 
the same questions as before, and got the same answers. 
Mr. Redfield went after David Jewell and wife, and Mrs. 
Hyde also came. After they came in, I asked the same 
questions over again, and got the same answers. 

" ' Then I asked the question how it was murdered. I 



30 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

asked if it was murdered by being struck on the head, 
and there was no rap. I then reversed the question, and 
the rapping was heard. Then I asked if it was stabbed 
in the side, and there was no answer ; upon asking the 
negative of this, the rapping was heard. It usually 
rapped three times in answer to my questions. I then 
asked if it had its throat cut, and it rapped as usual. 
Then, if it was with a butcher-knife, and the rapping was 
heard. In the same way it was ascertained that it was 
asleep at the time, but was awakened when the knife en- 
tered the throat ; that it struggled and made some resist- 
ance and noise. Then I asked if there was any one in 
the house at the time but him, and it did not rap ; then, 
if they two were alone, and the rapping was heard. I 
then asked if Lucretia Pulver worked there at the time, 

and it answered by rapping ; if she and Mrs. were 

gone away that night, and the rapping was renewed. 

" ' There was rapping heard only when we asked ques- 
tions. I asked if any one in HydesviUe knew of the 

murder, except , and it rapped. Then I asked about 

a number of persons, if they knew it, and there was no 

rap until I came to Mrs. , and then the rapping was 

heard ; then, if any one but and wife knew it, and I 

got no rap ; then, if they were all that knew of the mur- 
der, and I got the rap. I asked if the body was put in 
the cellar, and it rapped. I then asked if it was buried 
in the different parts of the cellar, and to all my questions 
there was no rapping until I asked, if it was near the cen- 
tre, and the rapping was heard. 

" ' Charles Redfield then went down cellar with a can- 
dle. I told him to place himself in different parts of the 
cellar ; and, as he did so, I asked the question, if the per- 
son was over the place where it was buried, and I got no 
answer until he got over a certain place in the cellar, 
when it rapped. He then stepped one side, and when I 
asked the question, there was no noise. This was re- 
peated several times ; and we found that, whenever we 
stood over this one place, the rapping was heard, and 
whenever he moved away from that place there was no 
answer to my questions. Mr. Redfield said he could hear 
the noise himself. I then asked which way it was carried 



MR. DUESLER'S STATEMENT. 31 

down cellar ; if round through the outside door, and there 
was no rapping ; then, if it was down through the but- 
tery, by the inside stairway, and the rapping was heard. 
I then asked it to rap my age — the number of years of 
my age. It rapped thirty times. This is my age, and I 
do not think any one about here knew my age except 
myself and family. I then told it to rap my wife's age, 
and it rapped thirty times, which is her exact age ; seve- 
ral of us counted it at the time. I then asked it to rap 
A. W. Hyde's age, and it rapped thirty-two, which he 
says is his age ; he was there at the tune, and counted it 
with the rest of us. Then Mrs. A. W. Hyde's age, and 
it rapped thirty-one, which she said was her age ; she was 
also there at the time. I then continued to ask it to rap 
the age of different persons (naming them) in the room, 
and it did so correctly, as they all said. 

" ' I then asked the number of children in the different 
families in the neighborhood, and it told them correctly 
in the usual way by rapping. Also the number of deaths 
that had taken place in the families, and it told correctly. 
I then asked it to rap its own age, and it rapped thirty- 
one times distinctly. I then asked it if it left a family, 
and it rapped. I asked it to rap the number of children 
left, and it rapped five times ; then the number of girls, 
and it rapped three ; then the number of boys, and it 
rapped twice. Before this, I had asked if it was a man, 
and it answered by rapping it was ; if it was a peddler, 
and it rapped. 

" ' I then asked hi regard to the time it was murdered, 
and in the usual way, by asking the different days of the 
week, and the different hours of the day ; that it was 
murdered on a Tuesday night, about twelve o'clock. The 
rapping was heard only when this particular time was 
mentioned. When it was asked if it was murdered on a 
Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday night, etc., there 
was no rapping. I asked if it carried any trunk, and it 
rapped that it did. Then how many, and it rapped once. 
In the same way we ascertained that it had goods in the 

trunk, and that took them when he murdered 

him ; and that he had a pack of goods besides. 

" ' I asked if its wife was living, and it did not rap ; if 



32 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

she was dead, and it rapped. I then asked it to rap the 
number of years the wife had been dead, and it. rapped 
twice. In the same way I ascertained that its children 
were now living, — that they lived hi this State ; and, after 
asking if in such and such county (naming over the dif- 
ferent counties,) at last, when I asked if they lived in Or- 
leans county, the rapping was heard, and at no other 
time. This was tried over several times, and the result 
was always the same. I then tried to ascertain the first 
letters of its name by sailing over the different letters of 
the alphabet. I commenced with A, and asked if that 
was the initial of its first name ; there was no rapping. 
When I came to C, the rapping was heard, and at no 
other letter in the alphabet. I then asked, in the same 
way, in regard to the initials of its surname ; and when I 
asked if it was R, the rapping commenced. We then 
tried all the other letters, but could get no answer by the 
usual rapping. I then asked if we could find out the 
whole name by reading over all the letters of the alpha- 
bet, and there was no rapping. I then reversed the ques- 
tion, and the rapping was heard. * * * * There were a 
good many more questions asked on that night, by my- 
self and others, which I do not now remember. They 
were all answered readily in the same way. I staid in 
the house until about twelve o'clock, and then came home. 
Mr. Redfield and Mr. Fox staid in the house that 
night. 

" ' Saturday night I went over again, about seven 
o'clock. The house was full of people when I got there. 
They said it had been rapping some time. I went into 
the room. It was rapping in answer to questions when I 
went in. I went to asking questions, and asked over 
some of the same ones that I did the night before, and it 
answered me the same as it did then. I also asked dif- 
ferent questions, and it answered them. Some of those 
in the room wanted me to go out, and let some one else 
ask the questions. I did so, and came home. There 
were as many as three hundred people in and around the 
house at this time, I should think. Hiram Soverhill Esq., 
and Volney Brown, asked it questions while I was there, 
and it rapped in answer to them. 






ME. duesxer's statement. 33 

" ' I went over again on Sunday, between one and two 
o'clock, P. M. I went into the cellar with several others, 
and had them all leave the house over our heads ; and 
then I asked if there had been a man buried in the cellar, 
to manifest it by rapping, or any other noise or sign. The 
moment I asked the question, there was a sound like the 
falling of a stick, about a foot long, and half an inch 
through, on the floor in the bedroom over our heads. It 
did not seem to bound at aU ; there was but one sound. 
I then told Stephen Smith to go right up and examine 
the room, and see if he could discover the cause of the 
noise. He came back, and said he could discover noth- 
ing — that there was no one in the room or in that part 
of the house. I then asked two more questions, and it 
rapped in the usual way. We all went up stairs and 
made a thorough search, but could find nothing. 

" ' I then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if I 
could make the same noise by dropping them ; but I 
could not. This was all I heard on Sunday. There is 
only one floor, or partition, or thickness, between the 
bedroom and the ceUar ; no place where any thing could 
be secreted to make the noise. When this noise was 
heard in the bedroom, I could hear a slight tremulous 
motion or jar. 

" ' There was some digging in the cellar on Saturday 
night. They dug until they came to water, and then 
gave it up. The question had been previously asked 
whether it was right that they should dig on that night, 
and there was no rapping. Then, whether it was wrong, 
and the rapping was heard. Whether they should dig 
on Sunday; no rapping. On Monday; rapping com- 
menced again. However, some insisted on digging at 
this time, and dug accordingly ; but without success. 

" ' On Monday night, I heard this noise again, and 
asked the same questions I did before, and got the same 
answers. This is the last time I have heard any rapping. 
I can in no way account for this singular noise which I 
and others have heard. It is a mystery to me which I am 
wholly unable to solve. I am willing to testify under 
oath that I did not make the noises or rapping which I 
and others heard ; that I do not know of any person who 



34 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

did or could have made them ; that I have spent consi- 
derable time, since then, in order to satisfy myself as to 
the cause of it, but can not account for it on any other 
ground than that it is supernatural. I lived in the same 
house about seven years ago, and at that time never 
heard any noises of the kind in and about the premises. 
I have understood from Johnson and others, who have 

lived there before moved there, that there 

were no such sounds heard there while they occupied the 
house. I never believed in haunted houses, or heard or 
saw any thing but what I could account for before ; but 
this I can not account for. 

" (Signed) ' War. Dueslee.' 
"'April 19, 1848."' 

Some ten other witnesses are given to corroborate 
the aforesaid facts, and " Mr. David S. Fox gives a state- 
ment confirming the others heretofore recorded, and says, 
furthermore, that ' There is no place about the house in 
which any person could be secreted so as to produce 
these sounds. There is only one floor between this bed- 
room and the cellar. * * * I was here (at the house) on 
Monday, the 3d of April, and we commenced digging 
again in the cellar, and bailing ' out the water ; but we 
found it impossible to make much headway. On Tuesday 
evening they began digging again. I got a pump, and 
we took up the floor, and put it into the hole, and began 
to purnp and bail out the water at the same time. We 
could not lower the water much, and had to give it up. 
The water is now in the hole, although it is lowering 
gradually.' 

"Such is the testimony— unimpeachable and conclu- 
sive — of the first occurrences at Hydesville. The wit- 
nesses establish, beyond the possibility of a doubt, the 
presence of some unseen and intelligent agency in pro- 
ducing these sounds. But this was not the only kind of 
evidence by which the invisible presence was to be 
proved. As the family and their friends became more 
familiar with the mysterious visitants, and could converse 
without alarm, other manifestations began to be made, 
exhibiting, in a more astonishing manner, the command 



MR. FOX'S STATEMENT. 35 

of the communicators over the elements, by which was 
created at will any sound that might he desired. Thus, 
the intelligence claiming to he the spirit of the murdered 
man would produce a sound like the death-struggle, the 
gurgling in the throat, etc., of a man whose throat was 
cut ; then the sound of dragging a lifeless body across 
the room, down the stairs, the feet striking on each step ; 
then a sound as if shovelling dirt hi the cellar, the nailing 
of boards, and the filling up of the hastily-made grave — 
all sounding as perfectly natural as if you had stood in 
the grave-yard, and heard the clods descend upon the 
last resting-place of the body of a friend. I have myself 
heard the same, and it was hard, indeed, to convince one's 
self that it was not a reality instead of a mere represen- 
tation. Another sound was produced like that of pour- 
ing a quantity of clotted blood from a pail on to the floor. 
This sound would come suddenly, when the family, or 
some portion of it, sat in a room, not thinking of the 
manifestations ; and the first thought would be that some 
one had poured down a whole pailful of something, that 
would fall like so much blood, or, as the family expressed 
it, ' lobbered milk.' 



? 57 



THE FIRST MEDIUM. 

" It was some thne before the spirits exhibited any -pre- 
ference for any one of the family, or seemed to require 
the presence of one more than the other, in order to pro- 
duce the various sounds and movements. At length they 
discovered that Catharine, the youngest girl, seemed to 
be required in order to obtain the communications. She 
was then in the twelfth year of her age. This was the 
first discovery of mediumship in that family. Indeed, it 
is the first case of acknowledged mediumship for sounds, 
so far as I am able to discover, that the world has been 
made acquainted with. There have been those who were 
undoubted mediums, and were attended by similar demon- 
strations ; but they have not been characterized by the 
intelligence that has uniformly attended this family. The 
exhibition of intelligence heretofore has been only in rare 
cases, and for a short time, to disappear and remain a 



36 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

wonder to the recipients of the strange visitations. But 
here they have remained to explain themselves, and si- 
lence for ever all doubts in regard to the power of unseen 
intelligences to communicate with the inhabitants of this 
visible world." 

" There are many circumstances going to make up a 
case of circumstantial proof that there was, at some time, 
a murder committed in the house. To this effect, so far 
as spiritual manifestations are concerned, is the testimony 
of Miss and Mrs. Pulver. There is, aside from this, enough 
to establish very reasonable suspicions in regard to the 
transactions of a certain family who formerly occupied 
the house. 

" In addition to this, it is a fact not generally known, 
that, in the summer of 1 848, Henry Bush and Lyman Gran- 
ger, of Rochester, and David S. Fox, and others, of Ar- 
cadia, recommenced digging in the cellar of the house ; 
and, after digging about five feet, came to a plank, through 
which they bored with an auger, which, on boring through, 
(the auger being loose in the handle,) fell through, out of 
sight. On digging further they found several human 
teeth, and a few bones, and some hair, which evidently 
came from a human head, although no connected bones 
or skull were found. They also found a quantity of char- 
coal at the same depth. This shows, most incontestably, 
that the groiuid, at some time, had been disturbed, and 
these things deposited. This, taken with the evidence of 
the family, on whom suspicion fell, having sundry articles, 
in a very mysterious way, about the time the murder was 
said to have been committed, is enough, at least, to give 
a shade of circumstantial evidence in favor of the truth of 
the allegation of the spirit hi regard to the murder." 

Rochester, N". Y., is the next place, where, our histor- 
ian informs us, the Spirits displayed their power. 

SPIRITUAL PULLING AND HAULING. 

" Notwithstanding the facts were concealed from the 
p-ablic, it is worthy to be noted that, during the early part 
of the manifestations at Rochester, many demonstrations 



PULLING AND HAULING. 3? 

were made which looked like a disposition to create dis- 
turbance, without any other apparent object than mischief. 
Mr. Calvin B,. Brown, before spoken of, was not, at first, 
particularly friendly to the spirits, and they seemed to re- 
ciprocate the feeling by constantly annoying him. The 
spirits would come to his bed, lift it up, shake it, seize his 
bed-clothes and carry them away, or whip him with them. 
At times he would seize the clothes, as they were going 
oft', determined to dispute the right of possession with the 
spirits. He would brace himself and pull with all his 
might ; and, when exerting himself to the utmost, the 
spirit would mischievously let go suddenly, and Mr. 
Brown, of course, would be thrown over backwards. 
Sometimes Mr. Brown would suddenly let go, under like 
circumstances, and the clothes would fly to the other side 
of the room. At times a sheet would come up to his bed, 
as if held up by a person, and then drop down. 

" One night the spirits came to his bed with a cane, and 
commenced striking tremendous blows on the wall at the 
head of his bed, just misshig his head and face. He seiz- 
ed the cane, and got possession of it. Soon they came 
with a broom-handle, to which was attached the worn-out 
stump of the broom. With this they commenced strik- 
ing, as before, until he seized that also. With these two 
sticks he made a kind of fender for his face, by placing 
one end of them on his head-board and the other on his 
breast. Then the spirit came with a strip of lath, and 
commenced beating the sticks directly over his face. He 
finally took the stick away and kept all of them where he 
could keep his hand upon them. The next salutation was 
an old iron candle-stick, thrown violently, and just graz- 
ing his upper lip so as to break the skin. At intervals, 
during all the time they were whipping him with the sticks, 
they would spell out, " Kneel down and ask our forgive- 
ness." He had nothing to ask such favors for, and told 
them he would not do it if they strung him up between 
the heavens and earth. They would then renew hostili- 
ties. After cutting his lip all was silent, as though they 
felt that they had gone too far, or made a mistake. They 
never told him to ask forgiveness again. After a short 
time they began to throw balls of carpet-rags, from a bas- 



38 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

ket in the room, some dozen or more of which hit him 
every one on the forehead, in precisely the same spot. 
Some sixty in all were thrown. Many were the kinds of 
disturbance that 'Mr. ""Brown was subjected. to before he 
became fully convinced that they were caused by spirits." 

" About this time very powerful physical manifestations 
commenced in the family of Deacon Hale, of Greece, a 
town adjoining the city of Rochester. In this case the 
spirits evinced a remarkable degree of physical power, 
such as moving heavy stoves and other articles of furni- 
ture. 

" The vibratory sounds were also produced in the family 
of Rev. A. H. Jarvis, a Methodist clergyman, residing in 
Rochester, soon after their commencement with the Fox 
family. Substantially the same phenomena were observed 
in the other cases. Many very beautiful communications 
were given, containing in themselves overwhelming testi- 
mony of spiritual power and foresight. 

" The following letter from that gentlemen to the author 
will give a strong case of telegraphing, at a very early 
period of the modern manifestations : 

" ' There are many facts which have come under nr$ 
observation equally convincing of the intelligence and uti- 
lity of the communications from these unseen agents, who, 
I now believe, are continually about us, and more perfect- 
ly acquainted with all our ways, and even our thoughts, 
than we are with each other. But the fact, in reference 
to my friend Pickard, is what you desire. He was at my 
house on Friday afternoon, April 6th, 1849. None of the 
Fox family were present. While at the tea-table we had 
free communications on different subjects. Pickard was 
requested to ask questions. He desired to know who it 
was that would answer questions. The answer was, ' I 
am your mother, Mary Pickard.' Her name or the fact 
of her death was not known to any of us. The next Mon- 
day evening he (Pickard) was at Mr. G — 's and .tarried 
there over night. He there received a communication, 
purporting to be from his mother, saying, 'Your child is 
dead.' He came immediately to my place, and said he 



SPIRIT-HANDS. 39 

should take the stage for home, (Lockport, sixty miles dis- 
tant.) He left in the stage at 8 or 9 A.M. At 12 M. I 
returned to my house, my wife meeting me with a tele- 
graph envelope. I broke the seal and read mentaUy, first, 
as follows : 

" 'Rochester, April 10, 1849. 
" ' By telegraph from Lockport to Rev. A. H. Jarvis, 
No. 4 West street. TeU Mr. Pickard — if you can find him 
— his child, died this morning. Answer R. Mallort.' 

" ' I then read it to my wife, and said " This is one of 
the best and most convincing evidences of the intelligence 
of those invisible agents ;" and then I added " God's tele- 
graph has outdone Morse's altogether." Yours truly, 

" ' A. H. Jarvis. 

" 'To E. W. Capron, Auburn.' » 



The next place mentioned, where these manifestations 
took place, is Auburn, ]S". Y. We can not specify what 
they were, beyond the assurance of Mr. C. that they 
" were various and astonishing," and " have scarcely been 
excelled." 

spirit-hands. 

" I (and all who have taken pains to get at the facts of 
all these demonstrations) have frequently had a hand laid 
on my arms, shoulders, or head, when no person would or 
could do it, having all then- hands held by each other. 
These demonstrations, like the others, generally leave a 
feeling of electricity where they touch. The hand feels 
much like one of a person who is in a magnetic sleep, be- 
ing colder (generally) than the hand of persons in a nor- 
mal state, and having a moisture like a cold perspiration 
upon it. . There is not, usually, any feeling like that of a 
hard hand, or one made up with the usual amount of bones 
in it. It is generally soft and smooth, although, at our 
request, it will change both its temperature and texture. 
It will in one instant feel as cool as ice and as warm as a 
common hand of flesh. 

"So perfectly natural is the touch, when an armis taken 



40 A THEEE-EOLD TEST. 

hold of by this invisible hand, or it touches in any other 
way, that, although you hold every hand in the room, 
you can hardly believe it to be other than some of them. 
But the proof is positive and the witnesses are numerous. 
Then, too, just request a change from natural warmth to 
the coldness of ice, and you feel the change without the 
hand being removed. It is past the art of man thus to 
change the temperature of his body." 

DIABOLISM. 

" Among the varieties of manifestations, purporting to 
be spiritual in this locality, there were often indications 
of pure diabolism ;* one of the most remarkable instances 
of which was as foUows : In the spring of 1849, an indi- 
vidual by the name of Baham was hung at Auburn for the 
murder of a peddler named Adler. He was clearly prov- 
ed guilty of the crime, but persisted to the last in assert- 
ing his innocence. During the last days of his earthly ex- 
istence he manifested a very wicked spirit, cursing all who 
were instrumental in demonstrating his guilt — of whom 
was one of his brothers who was connected with him hi 
the criminal affair ; and finally upon the scaffold, his last 
words were qualified by an oath. At the time of his exe- 
cution, a seeing medium — a young lady — was rendered 
clairvoyant, that she might witness the operation, and, if 
possible, observe the separation of body and spirit, and 
the manifestation of the latter. The medium claimed to 
have witnessed the execution ; and described the occur- 
rences from stage to stage, until the final scene when the 
drop fell, which was so revolting and terrible hi its ap- 
pearance, that she fainted. From this time what purport- 
ed to be the spirit of the executed man very often com- 
municated through her. On these occasions the spirit ut- 
tered passionate maledictions against those whom he con- 
sidered his enemies — declaring repeatedly that he would 
have revenge and that he would ere long take the life of 
some of the Auburn people, all of whom he considered res- 
ponsible in a degree for hisunpleasantremovaltothe world 
of spirits. Thus matters went on, the spirit continually 

*Mr. 0. does not believe in the existence of the Devil and his angels. 



DIABOLISM. 41 

evincing the most fiendish and vindictive feelings, until in 
April, 1850, when he gained an opportunity of wreaking, to 
a considerable extent, his vengeance. The medium, above 
spoken of, one afternoon used much freedom with this spi- 
rit, and received many manifestations from hhn by the vio- 
lent movements of her arms. At length the spirit acquired 
so much control over her person that she was unable to guide 
her own movements, or to repel hhn ; and he continued, for 
a long thne, to strike her arms back against her chair, un- 
til both arms from the elbows upward were bruised black, 
and ultimately almost into a pumice. This operation finally 
was superseded by others of a more serious nature, in propor- 
tion as the spirit gained increased control over her organ- 
ism. After various persecutions and tortures inflicted by 
the spirit upon the medium, he finally commenced strang- 
ling her, or at least so operated upon her as to produce 
the same effects that would be produced by a rope drawn 
tightly around her neck — declaring, at the same time, 
that he would strangle her to death. His declarations 
were made through her mediumship and that of others 
who were present ; and it was asserted by other spirits 
through other mediums who were hi attendance, that Ba- 
ham was fully determined, if possible, to carry his threat 
into execution and that it was not in their power, with 
the attending conditions, to prevent him, because he had 
previously secured so much possession of her person. The 
strangulation increased until the subject was unable to 
speak, or even to breathe without the utmost difficulty — 
making severe exertions, such as throwing up her hands, 
struggling, and uttering a peculiarly distressing noise in 
her efforts at inspiration. This state of the case continued 
for about thirty-six hours ; during which time the house 
was thronged by visitors and friends, and every attempt 
possible was made to deliver her from her situation. Se- 
veral strong and skillful magnetizers used their utmost 
exertions to dispossess her of the influence, whatever it 
might be, but did not at all succeed; physicians were 
called, both of the skeptical and the believing in spiritual 
matters, none of whom could aid her, or discover evidence 
of any bodily disease. In the mean time the body was 
suffering the severest agony, being entirely speechless, 



42 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

and her limbs and whole body were violently moved con- 
trary to her own will and strenuous exertions ; and fears 
were continually entertained that her breathing would be 
entirely prevented, and death ensue. 

" But now we come to the mode of her deliverance, 
which will introduce a manifestation of a decidedly oppo- 
site spiritual nature. As has been remarked, all the means 
which could be suggested by physicians, spiritual and 
anti-spiritual, friends and spectators of equally diverse 
opinions, the efforts of magnetizers and the various kinds 
of medicines which were administered — all and each pro- 
duced no perceptible effect. But the manner of her relief 
was this : After she had been tortured for about a day 
and a half, another medium was sent to the house by spi- 
ritual direction. This medium, also a young lady, was a 
clairvoyant, rapping and writing medium ; and upon her 
arrival a spirit, purporting to be that of the Apostle Paul, 
threw her into the clairvoyant state, and caused her to 
take hold of the hands of the afflicted person ; when with- 
in the space of five minutes she was entirely relieved of 
the pernicious influence. And after keeping both mediums 
in the clairvoyant condition for a few minutes longer — 
during which time they were exceedingly happy, that 
which claimed to be the spirit of Paul brought them both 
into their normal states, perfectly well. And thus ended 
what was considered by many intelligent witnesses to be 
a case of pure diabolism." 

ALARMING WONDERS. 

The next place our Author mentions, is Stratford, 
Coisnsr., where the most alarming wonders took j)lace in the 
house of Rev. Elialcim Phelps, D. D. He goes on to say : 

" While these strange occurrences were taking place at 
Rochester and Auburn, and the press and people were 
busy in trying to account for them on strictly mundane 
principles, making all manner of insinuations against the 
character and motives of those who even dared to inves- 
tigate for themselves, some manifestations took place at 
Stratford, Conn., which attracted attention to that quar- 
ter, as well on account of the character and standing of 



ALARMING WONDERS. 43 

the gentleman at "whose honse they occurred, as the very 
strange, boisterous, and violent character of the manifes- 
tations. I have been allowed to examine all the records 
kept of the occurrences by Dr. Phelps, and shall be able 
therefore, to present the history with more minuteness 
and accuracy than has ever before appeared. 

" The first disturbances took place on the tenth day of 
March, 1850, at the house of Rev. Eliakim Phelps, D.D. 
The house had been occupied by him from the 22d of 
February, 1848. It is a large and genteel country man- 
sion, separated from the street by a fence forty-five feet 
in front of the house ; which is thirty-two feet in front, 
and, including the piazza, seventy feet deep, with a hall 
thirteen feet wide, running through the whole depth of 
the building. Adjoining, and opening from this hall are 
two parlors and a dining-room. On the second floor are 
five sleeping-rooms, and on the third floor two. The 
kitchen is in the basement. The house was built about 
the year 1829 or '30 by a Captain Dondall, who for seve- 
ral years commanded a vessel in the China trade, and 
who died in the bay of Canton within two or three years 
after his family had taken up their residence in the house. 
The property then passed into the hands of another sea- 
captain, by the name of Purcell, who, with his family, 
occupied it for several years. Capt. Purcell dying sud- 
denly in New- York, the family removed, and the house 
was occupied by an Episcopal clergyman for a school a 

year or more, and afterwards by a Mr. , also as a 

school for boys. 

" None of the families who had thus far occupied the 
house had ever been disturbed, or witnessed any thing 
aside from ordinary events. At the death of Capt. Pur- 
cell it became the property of the two daughters, of 
whom Dr. Phelps purchased it during the month of No- 
vember, 1847. For two years previous to this it had been 
unoccupied. Dr. Phelps and family commenced their 
residence therein on the 22d of February, 1848. Nothing 
occurred to excite the attention of the family out of the 
ordinary course of events until the tenth of March, 1850 ; 
and, as before stated, nothing can be learned of any 
strange or unusual events occurring there previous to 



44 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

that time. It will be observed by the dates given that 
Dr. Phelps had occupied the house more than two years, 
had found it an agreeable and quiet place of residence — 
having never himself or any member of the family been 
disturbed or alarmed by unusual occurrences. On the 
tenth of March, as above stated, it being the Sabbath, 
Dr. Phelps and family, consisting of Mrs. Phelps, two 
daughters and two sons, the eldest a daughter aged six- 
teen, a son of twelve years, and a second daughter of six 
years, children of Mrs. Phelps by a former marriage, and 
another son of Dr. Phelps by the present marriage, not 
then three years old, all attended church ; and an Irish 
servant-girl, who had been employed in the family some 
six months, and had shown herself to be honest and trust- 
worthy, had gone on that day to Bridgeport, to attend 
the Catholic Church. On leaving the house in the morn- 
ing it appears that the Doctor had secured the chamber- 
doors, and put the keys in his pocket ; those which could 
be were locked inside and the keys left in them. The 
only door by which the chambers could be entered was 
locked, and the key taken by Dr. Phelps. He also locked 
the front-door inside, left the key in the lock, and, pass- 
ing out at the back-door, locked that and placed the key 
in his pocket. On returning from church at noon the 
front-door was found standing open ; the chamber-doors, 
which were left fastened, were now open ; and in the 
nursery the furniture was thrown about in disorder; 
chairs on the bed, and thrown down upon the floor ; the 
shovel, tongs and poker, with other things, were in unusual 
positions and places, every thing showing unmistakable 
signs of the work of some rude hand making mischief in 
their absence. Upon discovering the disorder here Dr. 
Phelps passed into other rooms on the same floor, but 
could see no other evidence of intrusion. The first sup- 
position was, very naturally, that some person or persons 
had entered and robbed the house. Search was immedi- 
ately made in the closets where silver plate, spoons, forks, 
etc., were kept. All were found safe and undisturbed. 
A gold watch, left in an exposed place, remained there 
as left. The impression still remained that burglars had 
been in : and, on examination of the windows, one was 



ALARMING WONDERS. 45 

found that could be raised from the outside, and though 
there was no evidence of entrance having been made 
there, no doubt existed that this was the place of access. 
Thinking they might return during the afternoon, Dr. 
Phelps remained at home, the other members of the fa- 
mily going again to church. Being left alone the Doctor 
armed himself, and, selecting a secluded position, awaited 
the return of the burglars. There was no disturbance 
during the afternoon ; no sound of footfaU ; all remained 
quiet. On the return of the family, after the service, 
usually closing at three o'clock, several other articles were 
found out of place, but not in a way to make it certain 
that they were not moved in the morning. Articles of 
kitchen furniture were changed about. A tea-kettle, 
which had been used at dinner-time, was found hidden 
behind some boxes hi the cellar. The bread, sugar-bowl, 
eggs, and numerous other thhigs kept in the kitchen, 
were found where they did not belong, and where they 
had evidently been placed in some way which the family 
could not account for. Upon entering the middle cham- 
ber, occupied as a sleeping-room, a sheet was found 
spread over the bed outside the counterpane, and beneath 
which was a night-gown and chemise laid out with the 
arms folded across the breast, with stockings placed in a 
position to represent, as it seemed, a corpse, disposed as 
is usual before placing it in the coffin. On the wall were 
written characters resembling those said by certain clair- 
voyants to belong to a spiritual language, but which none 
of the family were able to decipher. Whether they had 
any significance, or how they came there, was alike an 
unanswerable question by the family ; they had not ob- 
served them before. Occurrences ceased for that day 
and night, yet no one thinking of any mystery in the 
matter, they imputed it to roguish boys, or others, who 
had effected entrance with false keys, for mischief, rather 
than for robbery, and that the culprits would soon be de- 
tected. The next morning, March 11th, when the family 
went up stairs, after breakfast, the middle chamber had 
again been visited, exhibiting much the same scene of 
disorder presented the previous clay. A sheet was spread 
out upon the floor, the wash-stand laid upon its back upon 



46 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

the sheet, a candle-stick set upon the stand, the wash- 
bowl placed upon one side, and the pitcher on the other. 
The night-gown and chemise, used on the previous occa- 
sion to represent a dead body, were found one in the 
bowl, the other in the pitcher. It appears that these 
articles of clothing were not then in use ; they had been 
placed in a trunk which stood hi a closet adjoining that 
room. They were replaced in the trunk when removed 
from the bed the day before. As they were conversing 
in relation to the disposition of the things as above stated, 
Mrs. Phelps looked under the bed, and discovered arti- 
cles there, partially concealed by the bed, resembling 
those in question. They were taken out and pronounced, 
to be the same. Dr. Phelps had not before examined 
them, but then took them, noted the name and number 
on each, as they were marked, folded, and placed them 
again in the trunk, remarking that he would put them 
where they would stay ; did not lock the trunk, not hav- 
ing a key, but locked the closet and placed the key about 
his own person ; then requesting the family to all leave 
the room first, which they did, the Doctor, following, 
locked the door of the room, and kept the key. Having 
observed that Mrs. Phelps seemed a little troubled as to 
the mystery, he thought to convince her that there was 
no mystery in the matter, and, having secured the closet 
and room, he descended to the rooms below, following 
them all. After the lapse of some fifteen minutes, some 
person spoke to the Doctor, upon which he went up to 
the chambers. At the head of the stairs, out in the hall, 
he found the same articles which he had left as before 
stated. He examined them, and was positive they were 
the same. He went to the door ; found it locked ; entered 
by applying the key from his pocket ; went to the closet ; 
found it locked ; took the key from his pocket ; opened the 
door; looked in the trunk; and the articles Avere gone ! Dr. 
Phelps states that he was confident there was no decep- 
tion in the case, and that he then, for the first, felt that 
there was a mystery about the affair. He had never be- 
lieved in the appearing of ghosts, or departed spirits, 
warnings, or any thing of that nature, and, at the age of 
three-score, had never seen or heard any thing connected 



ALARMING AV0NDEES. 4*7 

with that class of phenomena. The evidence upon which 
such superstitions, as he termed them, rest, he had never 
examined, and while he had no proof positive that they 
were impossible, and never did occur, he had no evidence 
to found a belief upon that they ever had. His idea of 
spiritual manifestations seems to have been that most, if 
not all, followed by a strict scrutiny, might be accounted 
for on natural or known principles, or some physical 
means, which would disrobe them of the mysterious alto- 
gether. But it was not to rest here. On the same day 
(March 1 lth) the moving and throwing of furniture com- 
menced. An umbrella, standing at the end of the hall, 
leaped, without visible assistance, a distance, of at least, 
twenty-five feet. Dr. Phelps saw the movement, and 
knows there was no perceptible agency by which the 
motion was produced. A bucket, standing at the head 
of the stairs, was thrown into the entry below. Smaller 
articles, such as nails, forks, knives, spoons, bits of tin, 
iron and keys, were thrown from different directions 
about the house. He says : ' There w T ere times when they 
came from such directions that they might have been 
thrown by some person in the house' — at least, that may 
be admitted— but in very many cases the motion and 
point of starting were such as to preclude all possibility 
of deception on the part of persons in the rooms. Dur- 
ing the afternoon Dr. and Mrs. Phelps had occasion to go 
to Bridgeport; a distance of some three miles. During 
their absence the shovel and tongs, standing in the dining- 
room, were thrown violently down the basement-stairs ; 
a piece of mourning-crape fastened to the knocker of the 
back-door, and the mirrors in the front chambers covered 
with sheets and table-cloths, as is the custom in some 
parts of the country while a person lies dead in the house. 
The crape on the door Dr. Phelps did not see, but the 
covering on the mirrors he removed with his own hands. 
The position of the mirrors in one room was such that 
the coverings could not, without great difficulty, have 
been placed there by any person about the house. Vari- 
ous articles were said to have been thrown about the 
room — the phenomena continuing in his absence about 
the same as when he was present in the fore part of the 



48 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

day. Soon after sundown all was again quiet, and so con- 
tinued through the night. 

The next morning (March 1 2th) soon after the family- 
were up, the same phenomena began again ; knives, forks, 
spoons, blocks of wood, nails, etc., etc., were thrown from 
different directions, and with increased frequency, attend- 
ed by still stranger circumstances, and those of a still 
more mysterious character. Mrs. Phelps expressed some 
alarm, and a wish that some of the neighbors might be 
caUed in. Dr. Phelps called on a retired clergyman of 
Stratford, a man of extensive information, much expe- 
rience and sound judgment, who was universally admitted 
to be capable of rendering correct judgment and good 
advice in such a case. He requested him to call and 
spend an hour at the house, to which he cheerfully con- 
sented. Dr. P. told him that his family had been a little 
excited by some occurrences in the house, but did not 
state any of the details of the matter, but desired that 
he would sit with them for a short time and witness for 
himself. He remained all day, but was, at first, firmly of 
the opinion that the occurrences were produced, in some 
way, through the agency of the girl, or some other per- 
son about the house, and his main attention was directed 
to the girl in the kitchen, or the children, in the expecta- 
tion that he should detect them in doing it. 

" The door leading from the parlors to the kitchen was, 
by his request, locked, and all communication between it 
and the other parts of the house cut off; still, the throw- 
ing of articles went on as before. The children were 
sent out of the room, and the doors locked ; but this 
made no difference. He staid through most of the day 
on Thursday, and returned soon after breakfast next 
morning, aud remained most of the time for nearly three 
weeks. He became satisfied, before the close of the 
second day, that neither the girl in the kitchen nor the 
children had any agency in producing the strange move- 
ments. During the day (March 12th) some of the neigh- 
bors were in the house, and small blocks of wood were 
seen to fall in different places in their presence ; but only 
one person noticed them in a way to excite inquiry, and 
that person was requested not to mention what she had seen. 



ALARMING WONDERS. 49 

On Wednesday, March 13th, the manifestations com- 
menced early in the morning, in the middle chamber, the 
room in which two children slept, and began while they 
were both asleep. A book, standing in the library, ten 
or twelve feet from the bed, leaped from the shelf into 
tbe middle of the room. The blower, which was in the 
grate, leaped out on the floor, a distance of at least six 
feet, the noise of which first awakened the children. At 
the breakfast-table several articles were thrown ; among 
them a large potato, which had been sent from Pennsyl- 
vania, and laid up in a closet hi the east-chamber, feU on 
the table directly by the side of Dr. P.'s plate, in a man- 
ner that no person could have done it without instant de- 
tection. The Doctor's curiosity was much excited, and 
he watched, with all the scrutiny he was capable, every 
person in the room. He took up the potato and let it 
fall from different heights, in order to determine how 
far it must have faUen to have made the concussion 
that it did ; and it was adjudged by all that the dis- 
tance could not have been more than twelve or fifteen 
inches. 

" Rev. Mr. came in soon after breakfast, and re- 
mained during the day. Several Bibles were opened at 
different passages, which seemed to be selected, with a 
great deal of care, and indicated either by placing small 
pieces of paper on them or turning down a leaf. These 
things first occurred in the middle chamber where the 
library stood. While the family were at dinner similar 
things were done in the parlor adjoining the dining-room. 
Two Bibles and an Episcopal prayer-book were opened 
at different passages, chairs turned forward on the floor, 
two solar lamps placed on the floor, a hat and man's cap 
put one on each ; nearly every thing in the room had 
been moved, and in so short a time, that it seems wholly 
inadmissible that any person about the house could have 
done it ; besides, the whole household were in the dining- 
room, all seated at the table, except the servant, and she 
was employed waiting on the table. 

In the afternoon the demonstrations were confined to 

the middle parlor. Dr. and Mrs. Phelps, and Mr. , 

and a part of the time the eldest daughter, being present ; 
3 



50 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

in the absence of the daughter the doors were locked, 
and the three first named only were present. 

" The throwing of various things occupied the after- 
noon. The articles thrown were picked up and placed 
upon the mantle, and between the hours of one and four 
o'clock, the number amounted to forty-six ; among which 
were nails, bits of tin, iron, keys, and small blocks, all of 
which were gathered from different parts of the house ; 
most of them from closets on the second floor, and the 

chambers. At one time, while Mr. M was standing 

near the centre of the room, a padlock, which was known 
to have been in the closet of the middle chamber, fell at 
his feet. He took it in his hand, letting it fall from differ- 
ent heights, to discover the probable distance it must 
have fallen to produee the concussion. After various 
trials it was judged to have fallen not more than two or 
two and a half feet. As Dr. P. was sitting, perhaps ten 
feet from the piano-fOrte, he saw a small toy-mouse, which 
was on the piano, arise as if tossed, and, describing a 
parabola as it came, fall at his side, so near that he took 
it from the floor without leaving his chair. This he 
speaks of seeing as distinctly as he ever saw any thing, 
the whole being perfectly in his view. He also saw, in 
the same way, among other things, a nail, cotton-spool 
and key, arise from behind the sofa, which stood diagon- 
ally across the corner of the room. He arose, went to 
the sofa, looking behind and under it, but could discover 
nothing which might give impulse to the articles. While 
examining the carpet about the sofa to find if any other 
things were there, without success, as his eyes were di- 
rected to one spot, there arose from that very point a 
piece of cheese-rind, perhaps eight inches from the floor ; 
when he saw it first, it arose four or five feet, passed over 
the sofa, and fell on the floor. He is positive it was not 
there when he was looking at the carpet, and knows there 
were no visible means of its moving. 

" Mr. M suggested, as he was about to leave on 

Wednesday night, that if the strange phenomena should 
return, he would like to have some other persons called 
in. Early the next morning, Thursday the 14th, the 
manifestations commenced about as they had on the pre- 



ALARMING WONDERS. 51 

vious day. Soon after breakfast a sheet was found spread 
upon the floor, several Bibles were opened at different 
places, the candlesticks in a row, the highest in the mid- 
dle, and covered with a sheet ; other articles changed 
about the room, without any seeming design, more than 

to attract attention. Mr. M proposed that notes be 

dispatched to Rev. Mr. W , Congregational minister, 

and Mr. Plant, a lawyer of high standing and respectabi- 
lity, which was according done. It was at this time that 
they first began to hear rappings and heavy poundings. 
A loud sound, like some person striking the floor with 
some heavy substance, was heard, generally in the middle 
chamber. This was usually done when no one was in the 
chamber, and on any one entering all was still. In one 
instance a chair was seen to rise from the floor and beat 
down again, five or six times, with a violence which caused 
the house to tremble so as to be felt in all the adjoining 
apartments. A large plated candlestick, standing on the 
mantle, was moved by some unseen power to the floor, 
and then rose up and down, beating the floor, until the 
candlestick was broken. This was the first article that 
was damaged about the house. Several times, during 
the day, loud noises, like some one pounding with an axe, 
or some heavy substance, on the floor, were heard in 
different parts of the house, and several times the loud 
poundings terminated with a frightful scream ; it was not a 
cry of distress, or any thing that could be easily imitated, 
seeming like something between the cry of a cat and the 
bleating of a calf, but louder than either. These sounds 
occurred, in all, probably twenty times while the mani- 
festations were going on. Sometimes the screams seem- 
ed to be in the third story, sometimes in the front-hall 
chamber, several times out in the yard, and occasionally 
in other places. There was, at no time, any audible ex- 
pression of words. The sounds consisted of poundings, 
knockings, and screamings. On this day the first images 
were found, which will be spoken of more fully here- 
after. 

" In the evening of this day, just after some young 
ladies had called, Dr. P.'s daughter returned to the par- 
lor, it being between nine and ten o'clock. After seeing 



52 A THKEE-POLD TEST. 

the young ladies to the door, an iron stand, in which 
stood the fire-shovel, tongs and poker, leaped from the 
hearth, where it stood, into the middle of the floor, and 
rose up and beat the floor with a force that made a jar 
that could be felt, and the sound heard, in any part of 
the house. This was seen only by the daughter, but Dr. 
P. and wife heard the noise. The daughter ran through 
the dining-room to get up stairs, and, as she passed, a 
large table was standing, with the other furniture, ar- 
ranged for breakfast the next morning. The table was 
three feet nine niches wide, and five feet three inches 
long, made of solid mahogany ; and when she entered 
the room it rose up and beat five or six times against the 
floor with a force which made the house jar. The noise 
was heard by many persons in the house. Mrs. P. was 
alarmed, and screamed out : 'Oh! take me from this place!' 
This happened between nine and ten o'clock P.M. Pre- 
vious to this time, all manifestations had ceased by sun- 
down, or a little after. 

" Soon after daylight on Friday, March 15th, movements 
similar to those on previous days commenced. Henry, a 
lad then eleven and a half years of age, attended the 
academy, and nothing had, thus far, ever occurred to 
connect these strange phenomena with his presence. Dr. 
P. had never heard or thought of particular persons being 
' mediums.' But on this clay the remarkable occurrences 
seemed to be connected more or less with this boy. His 
cap was torn on his head, so as to be entirely destroyed. 
Another one which he put on was taken in the same way. 
First a small hole opened in the crown; this gradually 
extended, and in a short time it was torn into many pieces. 
On another cap characters were made, apparently with 
chalk. They resembled those sometimes made by persons 
in the higher mesmeric state, describing them as charac- 
ters of a spiritual language. 

"Five or six of these characters were, at one time, 
made on the boy's cap. Others, supposed to constitute 
a sentence, were written on a red pocket-handkerchief; 
others on his pantaloons and coat, and on the inside of 
his sack-coat. Copies of these characters were taken 
with great care, and were preserved till September fol- 



ALARMING WONDERS. 53 

lowing, when they were mysteriously destroyed. From 
this time it became evident that some of the phenomena 
had some kind of connection with this boy. 

" An umbrella, which he was carrying, was, in a mys- 
terious manner, torn in several pieces. His pantaloons 
were torn from the bottom upwards, as high as the knee, 
and sometimes higher, and were literally torn to ribbons, 
an inch or more wide. This occurred several times under 
the immediate inspection of Rev. Mr. M., which seems to 
fix the fact that, in those instances at least, no power visi- 
ble did it. Thus it continued for several weeks, clothing 
to the amount of twenty dollars being destroyed. At 
one time, while he was riding in a carriage with Dr. P., 
his cap on his head was torn in a mysterious manner, and 
his pants torn from the waistband to the bottom, in a 
way that no human power could have done. Dr. P. heard 
them torn, but could see nothing doing it, and knows the 
boy could not have done it himself. It was on this day, 
March 15th, that images, dressed in articles of clothing, 
were again seen; only two or three appeared on that day. 
The most extraordinary occurrences of this kind took 
place on Saturday, the 16th. Soon after breakfast two 
or three images appeared in the middle chamber ; soon 
again another, followed by others still, numbering in all 
eleven or twelve. They were formed of articles of cloth- 
ing, found about the house, stuffed to resemble the human 
figure. A lady's dress would be stuffed in some cases 
with a muff; again with a pillow, and sometimes with 
other dresses ; a bonnet and shoes were aptly placed to 
complete the figure. These, on this occasion, all but one, 
represented females in the attitude of devotion, some 
having Bibles or prayer-books placed before them. One, 
formed of Mrs. P.'s dress, so much resembled the real, 
that the little boy, scarce three years old, coming into 
the room with his sister, older, whispered: 'Be still, ma 
is saying prayers.' 

"A portable writing-desk, usually standing on the 
secretary hi the room, was taken and placed upon the 
floor, a towel spread over it, and the image of a child 
kneeling beside it. A Yankee clock was taken from the 
mantle in the nursery, and placed upon the floor in the 



54 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

middle of the room, a distance of twenty feet, and so 
carefully done that the clock was still going when dis- 
covered in its new place, though it stopped some time 
after. It does not appear that any of these images were 
seen in the process of construction, or that the cloth- 
ing, which was gathered from different localities, was 
seen in the act of moving. When persons entered the 
room every thing was still, the clothing about the floor, 
which, upon going again within a few minutes, were 
found wrought into forms. The marked rapidity of their 
construction, and the life-like appearance of them, seems 
to have been truly wonderful. During this day several 
others than members of the family were present. In 
several instances, when the rooms were closed and the 
doors guarded, so that no person could enter, the images 
were constructed. To one reading or listening to the 
relation of these facts, the mischief and cunning evinced 
will seem amusing as well as most wonderful; but to 
the family who bore the annoyance and witnessed the 
terrifying demonstrations, it was a serious and trying 
affair. 

" The reader will keep in mind that this was on Satur- 
day of the first week of these strange proceedings, and 
many persons were still believing that they must be pro- 
duced by some one in the house : every member of the 
family therefore was subjected to the most rigid scrutiny, 
which makes it morally certain that no member of the 
household could have had any agency in the matter with- 
out being at once detected. Besides the neatness and 
dispatch with which they were formed, the natural appear- 
ance of most of them must have required taste and skill 
beyond the conception of ordinary persons in the flesh. 
Mr. M. remained there throughout the day, Mr. W., 
Governor Plant, and Captain S., a part of the day. Dur- 
ing the day and evening various things were thrown in 
different parts of the house. A brick-bat, which lay on 
the stairs leading to the third story, was thrown violently 
down stairs, passing very near tne head of the eldest 
daughter as she was descending the stairs. A fire-shovel 
was also thrown near her, which she first saw high above 
her in a position to fall upon her head. She was several 






ALARMING WONDERS. 55 

times constrained to cry out from fear, so much as to 
cause apprehension on her account. 

" [I omit, in this place, at the request of Dr. Phelps, a 
minute account of occurrences in which the medium 
seemed to be one who has now groAvn to be a young 
woman, and would feel a repugnance at having her name 
mentioned in connection with the subject. At one time 
a ribbon was tied around her neck, while she was sleeping, 
so tight as to cause a serious affection of the brain. Dr. 
Phelps was sitting in the room when it was done. Several 
other remarkable occurrences are omitted, on account of 
her connection with them. In the main they do not differ 
materially in their nature from the occurrences herein 
related.] 

"The hiding of hats, caps, clothing, etc., seems at this 
time to have become of common occurrence. On several 
occasions a hat was seen to go up stairs — not thrown, but 
seemed to be carried rapidly by unseen hands. For several 
days Dr. P. was forced to keep his hat under lock and key 
to prevent its disappearance, if left out as usual. Coats, 
hats, and canes of gentlemen, who were strangers in the 
house, were spirited away; the only object seeming to be 
the gratification of mischievous desires, with the exception 
of a few instances. They were found sometimes in the 
chimney, under the bed, and in the bottom of trunks. 
The design seemed to be to detain the owners to witness 
further demonstrations. Two gentlemen from an adjoin- 
ing town called, one of whom had expressed an earnest 
desire to witness the phenomena; but having passed 
several hours, and seen nothing, they were about to leave, 
when the person who expressed the wish found himself 
minus a hat. A thorough searching followed, but no hat 
could be found, consequently the gentleman decided to 
remain until the next day. During the evening and 
night, phenomena transpired sufficient to gratify his most 
abundant desire. Similar cases, with like results, after- 
wards occurred. 

" On the nineteenth and twentieth, little occurred to 
cause alarm. Some of the family heard loud and fright- 
ful screams in an adjacent out-house, which must have 
been torturing to the feelings, much more so than the 



56 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

silent images. Small articles were also thrown about the 
house. Reports had now got abroad, and some excitement 
was being produced, as is always the case in country 
towns, where each person knows their neighbor's private 
business quite as well, and sometimes better, than those 
most interested. And in a matter of this kind all efforts 
to prevent publicity would prove unavailing. Curiosity 
and staring wonder would overstep all bounds of pro- 
priety and respect for the private rights and feelings of 
the family, forgetting that it is no slight thing for the 
harmony and quiet of a household to be invaded, each 
member being subjected to suspicion, ill-natured scrutiny, 
or careless reproach. On this subject I can speak from 
experience, having myself passed the ordeal. To persons 
of refined sensibility it is a trial indeed. In this case, Dr. 
P. adopted the rule of giving all Avho called an oppor- 
tunity to investigate for themselves, and to this rule he 
adhered, notwithstanding the annoyance such a constant 
visitation must have occasioned. In one instance, while 
a rabble was gathered outside, a stranger, who came un- 
introduced by letter or otherwise, asked to spend the 
night, and was refused for obvious reasons. 

" On Friday and Saturday, March 23d and 24th, the 
disturbances increased, and became stiU more annoying. 
Loud poundings and screams were heard in different 
places, and on Saturday evening, between sunset and 
dark, Harry was passing through the dining-room, and 
thought himself suddenly caught up by some unseen 
power from the floor, and supposed that he was about to 
be carried off through the ceiling. He was very much 
frightened, and screamed so as to alarm the family, and 
remain in a state of great nervous excitement for two or 
three hours, and the effects did not wholly wear off for 
more than a week. At times he was in such a state as 
to require two men to hold him. For several days after 
this, he spent a portion of his time with one of the neigh- 
bors during the day ; but the disturbances continued the 
same at the house, although he appeared to be more or 
less the medium as long as the phenomena continued. 
At one time he was thrown into a cistern of water ; at 
another he was tied up and suspended from a tree, and 



ALARMING WONDERS. 57 

several times was thrown into a state of apparent sensi- 
bility, in which he would remain from ten to fifteen 
minutes, and for which no human cause could be assigned. 

" Somewhere about the 20th or 22d of March, Dr. P.'s 
attention was called to a pamphlet (Capron and Barron's) 
giving a history of the " mysterious noises" at Rochester 
and Auburn. Several persons who had read the same 
proposed to question the agents of these disturbances in 
the manner there recorded, and see if they could get 
answers to questions. To this the Doctor objected, for 
reasons known to himself, but which may readily be ima- 
gined by those knowing his position in life, and his gen- 
eral opinions of such phenomena. 

" On the 26th of March Anna left Stratford, and on 
the third of April Harry also left. No manifestations 
took place while both were away. Harry was absent a 
week, and Anna three weeks ; but the very day that 
Harry returned, the manifestations commenced with 
greater power than ever. Even before he arrived at the 
house, a paper with some mysterious characters was 
dropped near the front-door. These characters were in- 
terpreted by a clairvoyant* to read as follows : 

1 Fear not when he returns ; all danger is o'er. 
"We come, we disturbed thy house ; but shall no more. 
Believe us not evil or good till we prove 
Our speech to humanity, our language of love.' 

" This was supposed to indicate that no further disturb- 
ance would be made ; but in the course of two or three 
hours another paper was found in the boy's hat in these 
words : 

' The good ones say that all is done, 
But the wicked ones say it has just begun.' 

" The ' wicked ones,' in this case, seemed to come 
nearer the truth than the ' good ones,' for, on the after- 
noon of the eighth of April, the breaking of glass com- 
menced for the first time by the breaking of a pane in a 
mysterious manner. In the evening of the same day 

* Andrew Jackson Davis. 
3* 



58 A TIIREE-FOLD TEST. 

another was broken during family prayers, some of the 
pieces falling inside and some outside. There were no 
indications of any thing being thrown against it. From 
this time forward for several weeks glass was broken 
almost daily, until the whole number of panes broken 
amounted to seventy-one in the house and out-buildings. 
Most of them were broken by something being thrown 
against them ; among the articles were a brush, a shoe, a 
poker, a fire-shovel, a candlestick, a pair of snuffers, books, 
and numerous other things ; occasionally a stone or piece 
of brick, thrown from the outside. 

" Dr. P. thinks it would have been possible, but not 
probable, that, in some of these cases, they might have 
been broken by human agency, but he was an eye-witness 
in some twenty or thirty cases, and knows that they 
could not have been so done. He saw a brush, which he 
knew to have been on a certain shelf but a moment 
before, and no person near the shelf, fly to the window, 
break out a glass, and fall down between the shutter and 
sash, where he knew, from the position, that no one could 
have thrown it. He saw a tumbler, which was standing 
on a bureau, rise from its place, fly to the window, and 
clash out the only pane remaining whole in the window, 
when no person was within twenty feet of it, and the only 
persons in the room were himself and Harry, the latter 
standing by the Doctor's side in the doorway of the room 
— a position in which it was utterly impossible for him to 
have done it without detection. 

" The mysterious visitors, whoever they were, seemed 
at times to be actuated by a spirit of sheer mischief in the 
destruction of property, particularly glass and crockery. 
Even the glass in the carriage-top was broken out. Pitch- 
ers of water were, on two or three occasions, poured into 
the beds, and the pitchers and other vessels thrown about 
the room and broken. The damage to furniture during 
the whole time was nearly two hundred doUars. Some- 
times there was a cessation of ' hostilities' for two or three 
days: but they would then return with additional vio- 
lence ; in fact they increased gradually in violence from 
the beginning to the middle of April. On the evening of 
that day, and during the night, they were more violent 



ALARMING WOjSTDEKS. 59 

and destructive than ever before. On the night of the 
thirteenth of April, loud pounding and beating, as with 
some hard substance, were frequent in the room adjoin- 
ing that in with Dr. P. slept ; so loud and continued were 
they, that at one o'clock no person in the house had been 
able to sleep. Soon after, a small drawer was taken from 
a dressing-table, and beaten so violently against the bed- 
stead as to break it into fragments, some of which were 
thrown against the windows, breaking two panes of glass. 
The knockings were now transferred to Mrs. P.'s room. 
She was pinched, pricked with pins, and otherwise annoy- 
ed in a manner beyond explanation, ' on any known laws 
of matter or mind.' Mr. W. C. was staying in the house 
that night. He went to the room by request, and propo- 
sed to interrogate them, as they were then doing at Ro- 
chester and other places hi Western New- York. Being 
left to act his pleasure, he queried, and was replied to as 
follows: 'Who are you? If a spirit, knock.' Imme- 
diately there were heard on the head of the bed distinct 
knocks. Question. — ' Are you a good or bad spirit ? If 
good, knock.' To this there was no answering sound. 
' If a bad spirit, knock.' At once the same sounds as be- 
fore were heard. Question. — ' Will you speU your name 
if the alphabet is caUed ?' Answer. — Knock. It was 
done ; and a name was spelled out, and a communication 
made of a most extraordinary character, detailing the 
particulars of a transaction in which a portion of the family 
were said to have been defrauded out of a large property. 
As this whole communication relates to a matter which 
may yet come before the tribunals of our country for ad- 
judication, I am expressly prohibited from making any 
extracts from this part of the. journal. I regret this more, 
as the facts in this case form one of the most wonderful 
and unaccountable cases on record. 

" The family concluded that, after these important dis- 
closures were made, the disturbances would cease ; but 
they were doomed to be disappointed. The following 
night no communications were made, but the throwing 
of articles and breaking of windows, crockery, etc., were 
renewed with greater violence than before. Four or five 
panes of glass were broken in one room in the space of 



GO A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

half an hour. While the family were together in the east 
chamber, a small sauce-dish, with an iron handle, rose from 
the floor, under the wash-stand, and heat against the bed- 
stead with such violence as to break the handle off, and 
was then thrown back from whence it started. It beat 
seven or eight times against the bedstead, producing a 
noise that could easily be heard twenty rods. A round 
of a chair was beaten against the bedstead, in the same 
manner, when there was no person within seven or eight 
feet of it. A lamp that was on the mantel leaped into the 
middle of the floor, and was extinguished. Being left 
thus suddenly in the dark, produced no little agitation, 
and Mrs. Phelps proposed that they should take the child- 
ren and go into the street, rather than stay in the house 
that night. In a few minutes two gentlemen, who had 
appointed to spend the night with them, arrived, and the 
more violent of the manifestations ceased. 

About this time, Dr. P.'s attention was called to the 
fact that the demonstrations were much more violent in 
the presence of some persons than of others. While some 
were present they would cease entirely, and commence as 
soon as they left with great vehemence. 

On the 17th the communications were renewed, and 
from that time they had frequent communications, mainly 
respecting the property affair. At one time they asked 
how they should know that this was really from the spirit 
it purported to be, and requested his signature ; when in 
less than four minutes a small piece of paper having on it 
an exact fac simile of his handwriting was seen sticking to 
the wall — the writing apparently done with a pencil. Dr. 
Phelps still preserves the original paper with the name 
inked over. It was stuck to the wall by being made 
damp." 

We shall abridge the rest of this marvellous relation for 
want of room. Inquiries have satisfied us that it is a true 
relation of facts as they occurred ; be it owing to spirits 
in "the form" or out. 

"Among the spirits who communicated were two, who 
professed to be in a state of happiness, and three in a 



ALARMING WONDERS. 61 

state of misery. One of the good spirits claimed to be a 
sister of him who made the first communication; she 
communicated frequently, and constantly manifested her- 
self in the morning and evening devotions of the family, 
and always gave two distinct knocks at the utterance of 
' Amen.' Upon inquiry as to the meaning of these two 
knocks, the answer was given that it was a response, after 
the manner of the Episcopal service, signifying that she 
joined in the devotions. 

" Much that was communicated after the first few days 
was of a trifling and childish character ; some, more like 
what would be received from street-rowdies than any 
thing else. To the question why they destroyed pro- 
perty, they replied, ' For fun.' It was asked of the op- 
posing spirit what could be done to afford him relief ; he 
answered that ' The best thing they could do would be 
to give him a piece of pie.' Sometimes letters would 
come, purporting to be from ministers of Pliiladelphia, 
giving accounts of conversions in their congregations and 
additions to their churches. These were addressed to 
the Dr., and indicated a knowledge of things in Philadel- 
phia to an astonishing degree. Some of the letters were 
addressed to Mrs. Phelps, signed, or rather purporting to 
to be signed, by departed spirits of persons who had lived 
hi Philadelphia, and all, or nearly aU, who had lived in a 
single square, and were the acquaintances of Mrs. Phelps, 
during a residence in that city, in the time of her former 
marriage. Sentimental notes were also addressed to the 
daughter. These letters and billets were frequent, 
amounting in all to nearly one hundred, and were all writ- 
ten in one hand, though purporting to come from differ- 
ent persons. The fact was at one time referred to, and an 
explanation desired, to which the following was given : 
' We do not write with the hand — do not touch the pen- 
cil ; we write with the will.' At one time a paper was 
thrown down to Mrs. Phelps, while in the parlor with a 
number of ladies, having written on it, with a pencil, as 
follows : 

" ' Sir : Sir Sambo's compliments, and begs the laddyes 
to accept as a token of esteem.' 

" A lady in the family of Dr. Phelps had, in a humor- 



62 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

ous way, requested the spirits to write her a letter that 
she might send to a friend in Philadelphia. The spirit 
complied with the request by sending down the fol- 
lowing : 

" ' Dear Mary : I have just time to write and tell you 
I am well. Give my love to Miss K. and her uncle. Also 
to Mrs. and Mr. D. Also to Sarah. Good by. 

" ' H. P. Devil.' 

" The initials of the lady's name, who asked for the 
letter, were H. P. 

" Papers were also thrown down, signed ' Beelzebub,' 
and ' Sam Slick.' Sometimes names of persons, whom 
the family had known in Philadelphia, but who had been 
dead several years, were signed to these papers. 

" The following was in pencil, and seems to be written 
in the same hand as the other. It was superscribed, " E. 
Phelps" : 

" ' If you promise not to write that I told you, I will 
not throw any thing all this week.' 

" On the 28th of July, 1850, two singular letters were 
thrown down, addressed to Dr. Phelps. They were both 
in one hand-writing, but were signed by two different 
orthodox clergymen of Philadelphia. Their interest in 
religious movements, and their acquaintance with the 
phraseology of 'revival' correspondence, are seen at a 
glance. ' St. Peter's,' in the second letter, is a Puseyite 
church. 

" ' Dear Brother : The Lord is dealing bountifully 
with his chosen people. Brother Barnes admitted to the 
church forty-nine last Sunday, and Brother Parker thirty- 
four to-day. Brother Converse has had the cholera, and 
Brother Fairchild has grown so fleshy as scarcely to be 
recognized. Our friend Mr. Tarr has buried his wife. 
She died of consumption. E. Tarr is married. Brother 
Mahu, being suddenly inspired last Sunday, spoke so elo- 
quently and so loud, and used such majestic action, as to 
be quite done up for a while. He broke a blood-vessel. 
Old Tiers has gone crazy, and is shut up in a mad-house, 

or rather a hospital. The H s have gone into the 

country to spend some time. That's all the news. 
" ' Your faithful brother in Christ, 

«'R. A.' 



ALARMING WONDERS. 63 

" ' Dear Brother : The millennium truly is coming. 
The day of the Lord is at hand. We are adding count- 
less numbers to the altar of the Lord. Brother A 

became inspired last Sunday, to such a degree, that his 
soul took its flight to the regions above, and has not yet 
returned. The Catholic churches, St. Joseph's and St. 
Mary's, were burned down ; St. Peter's, also — I believe 
that is a Catholic church. Brother Mahu was preaching 
from the text, ' Resist the devil,' etc., when he was sud- 
denly overturned by an invisible power, which frightened 
him so that his hair turned white in five minutes. 

" ' Brother Barnes, to render his church more attractive, 
is going to have opera-singing and dancing, every Sun- 
day P.M. Mrs. Alexander Tower, old Mr. Tiers, Brother 
Fairchild, and Mrs. Somerville, are going to dance. I 
think they will find it a very lucrative employment. Jane 
and Martha still progress in Hebrew. 

" ' Your affectionate brother, 

"'M. R.» 

" On one occasion, Dr. Phelps was writing at his desk, 
and, turning his back for a few moments, without leaving 
his chair, turned again to his paper, where he found writ- 
tea in large letters : ' Very nice paper and very nice ink 
for the devil.' The ink was not yet dry, the desk was 
not two feet from him as he sat, and he was entirely alone 
in the room. 

" On a subsequent occasion a chair was placed upon the 
table by invisible power, and the two children, Harry and 
Hannah, raised up and placed upon it ; they could neither 
of them tell how it was done. The sensation was that 
of some person placing a hand under them and raising 
them up. Many of these things occurred when the room 
was darkened, as has been the case in numerous other 
places, and for which explanations have been recorded, 
as given by the spirits. On the evening of the 20th of 
October, the light being put out of the room, the bell 
was placed under the table, with a request that it should 
be rung, and placed in the Doctor's hand. He was sitting 
by the table with both his hands lying on his lap open, 
with the palms upward. The bell rang several times with 
some violence, and then was placed in his left hand. This 



64 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

"was repeated four or five times in succession. Dr. P. sat 
beyond the reach of any one, and the room was suffi- 
ciently fight for him to have detected any movement on 
the part of persons present. He requested them to let 
him feel the hand that placed the befi in his. Very soon 
a hand came in contact with his, took hold of his fingers, 
shaking his hand, passed slowly over the back of his hand, 
then over the palm again, took hold of his fingers, and he 
felt what he is sure to have been a human hand. He de- 
scribes it as being cold and moist, which accords with my 
own experience repeatedly, and that of my friends. They 
then took hold of his foot, shook it with much force, 
loosened the string, took off the shoe, and placed it upon 
the table before him. At his request the shoe was re- 
placed, the heel adjusted, and the strings drawn up, but 
not tied." 

The manifestations in the City op New- York have 
been very abundant. The following is a sample given by 
Mr. C. 

FLOATING IN THE AIR ! 

" At some of the sittings of this circle, Mr. Henry C. 
Gordon, a medium, was taken up bodily, and conveyed 
about the room, without any visible power to support 
him. Sometimes his head and hands came in contact 
with the ceiling of the room, and he would float about 
the room in the air for several minutes. At the house of 
Dr. Gray, in Lafayette Place, he was thus carried through 
different apartments for a distance of more than sixty 
feet. This is attested by many credible witnesses, among 
whom are Dr. Gray and Mr. Partridge." 

In Boston, Providence, Trot, Buffalo, and almost 
every city and large town in the Northern States, more 
or less of similar phenomena have occurred, and still 
occur ; and these are attested by thousands of witnesses, 
it is said ; and no investigator has been able to support a 
denial of the astounding wonders. For instance, such 
facts as the following by scores can be collected with 
names, places, and dates appended. 



A WRESTLING SPIRIT. 65 

" WRESTLING WITH A SPIRIT. 

" Several friends had come together to witness the strange 
power that seemed to be at work at the house of Brother 
J. A. While the rapping was going on, one of the com- 
pany denounced the whole thing, said he did not believe 
it Avas spirits ; or if it was, they could not rap and move 
tables, etc. And he defied and dared the spirits, saying 
he could throw down or whip any spirit. The Doctor then 
inquired of the spirit that was rapping at the time if he 
could wrestle ; he said he could. The spirit was then 
asked if he was willing to wrestle and show fight with that 
gentleman ; he said he was. The brave man then told 
the spirit to follow him out into the yard, and started, aU 
the circle rising from the table, when it commenced mov- 
ing towards the man, rose from the floor and hit him se- 
veral hard blows before he reached the door, which has- 
tened his steps ; and, as he passed out, the table, or rath- 
er stand, was thrown at him, only missing him a little, 
striking the door-facing about midway, denting and scar- 
ring the facing, bursting off the top of the stand, break- 
ing the legs, splitting the upright post, leaving indenta- 
tions as though bullets and shot had been fired into it, 
the medium not touching it, only following close after, and 
out into the yard, where the spirit-fighter had arrived un- 
hurt. 

" But now commenced a new struggle : he began strik- 
ing, jumping as though he was contending with flesh and 
blood, manifesting all the signs of determined bravery, 
and to fight it out to the last. He was several times 
thrown hard on the ground, then struggled and regained 
his feet, and down he would come again. This mode of 
testing the invisibles continued until the spirit's adversary 
was sorely wounded, and worried out of breath and phy- 
sical strength. He finally regained his foothold, and made 
a hasty retreat into the house up a flight of stairs, taking 
to himself a private room, closing the door after him, 
' declaring that he never wanted to fight spirits any more, 
and that if they would let him alone he would let them 
alone.' 

"Purely, (Ohio,) June 19th, 1853. 

" S. D. Pace." 
rraph Papers, vol. 2, p. 72. 



C6 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

The following is taken from the " Christian Spiritual- 
ist" of Dec. 29th, 1855. 

"spiritual performers and musical wonders. 

" Got. !N\ P. Tallmadge not long since, in a communi- 
cation to the National Intelligencer, testified to the fol- 
lowing facts. Comment is unnecessary, since similar ex- 
hibitions of spirit-skill and power have been manifested 
in various parts of the country, and testified to by men 
and women of undoubted intelligence and veracity. 

" If, however, things go on at this rate, Pres. Mahan 
will need to write another book, to oppose the modern 
mysteries of the ' Odylic force? for that power seems to 
be ' playing such strange ' and knowing times, that his 
theology and philosophy will suffer alike, if he does not 
make the effort to save them. 

"The Governor says : 'In my introduction to the "Heal- 
ing of the Nations" I state the following case : In June, 
1853, after my return from New-York, where I had wit- 
nessed many manifestations, I called on a writing medium 
in my neighborhood. A communication came through 
her to me, directing me to form a circle in my own family, 
and that a medium would be developed that would be all 
I could desire. I asked who it would be ? It was ans- 
wered a daughter. I asked which daughter, as I have 
four daughters. It was answered Emily. I was then di- 
rected, when a circle should be formed at my house, to 
put Emily at the piano. I asked : ' Will you teach her to 
play ?' It was answered : ' You will see.' Emily is my 
youngest daughter, and at that time about thirteen years 
of age. It is here proper to remark that she never knew 
% note in music, and never played a tune o?i the piano in 
her life. The reason is this : The country was entirely 
new when we moved here, and there was no opportunity 
at that time for instruction in music. She was instructed 
in other branches of education at home by myself, or some 
other member of the family. I soon formed a circle hi my 
own family, as directed. Emily took paper and pencil. 
Soon her hand was moved to draw straight lines across the 
paper till she made what is termed a staff in music. She 
then wrote notes upon it ; then made all the different signs 



MUSICAL WONDERS. 67 

in music, about all which she knew nothing. She then threw 
down her pencil, and began to strike the table as if striking 
the keys of the piano. Thisremincled me that I hadbeen di- 
rected to place her at the piano. I proposed it to her, 
and though naturally diffident, she at once complied, and 
took her seat with all the composure and confidence of an 
experienced performer. She struck the keys boldly, and 
played " Beethoven's Grand Waltz" in a style that would 
do credit to one well advanced in music. She then play- 
ed many familiar airs, such as " Sweet Home," " Bonnie 
Doon," "LastRose of Summer," "Hail to the Chief," "Old 
Folks at Home," " Lilly Dale," etc. She then played an 
air entirely new, and sang it with words improvised or 
impressed for the occasion. New and beautiful airs con- 
tinued to be sung and played by her, the poetry and sen- 
timent being given as before. She was also soon deve- 
loped as a writing medium, and I have received many 
beautiful communications through her, and of the purest 
religious sentiment. 

" ' I now add the following as cognate to the above : 
On one occasion I saw a young lady entranced, and in 
that state, with her eyes closed, played on the piano from 
One to two hours, without intermission, in the most su- 
perb style. All the pieces played purported to be compos- 
ed by spirits, and were never heard or played before. 
Amongst others was a " dirge," which, to my ear, surpass- 
ed any music of the kind I ever heard ; and the music and 
style of playing it were equal to what we understand of the 
most eminent performers and composers. She also play- 
ed a " battle piece," never heard before. Nothing of the 
kind could surpass it. There was the approaches, the at- 
tack, the charge of cavalry, and parts representing the 
peculiarities of the French, English, Irish, Scotch, etc. 
The Scotch brigade came up under the music of the bag- 
pipes ; and it would seem impossible to give such a per- 
fect imitation of the bagpipes on the piano. Afterwards 
came the burial of the dead, the slow and solemn music 
to the grave, the perfect resemblance of the beating of 
the muffled drum directly under the feet of the medium, 
the volleys of musketry, the booming of cannon at inter- 
vals in the distance, and the quick and lively air on the 



(58 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

return. The eyes of the medium were closed during the 
whole performance. The style of playing and the finger- 
ing of the instrument were entirely different, and the ar- 
tistic skill far surpassed her playing in her normal state. 
In truth, except under this influence, she had not the phy- 
sical ability to play such a length of time without inter- 
mission. She purported to be influenced by some of the 
" old masters." The style of the music was changed from 
time to time, as if some new performer had just appeared. 
During the performance, the piano at intervals, and for 
fifteen or twenty minutes in succession, would beat time 
to the music by raising the two front feet from the floor, 
and still striking the floor so gently as not to disturb the 
music in the least. The piano was so large and ponde- 
rous that a strong man could scarcely raise the front feet 
from the floor. 

" ' On another occasion, while four of us, the medium 
being one, were sitting round the parlor-fire, the piano 
on the opposite side of a large room was played with no 
human being near it. The performance was of the most 
splendid character. I have often heard Strakosch and 
De Meyer, and say, without hesitation, that in style and 
execution they never surpassed it. The piano was then 
closed by the spirits. The same music was repeated, 
with this difference only — that it was not so loud on ac- 
count of the piano being closed. The piano was then 
opened by the same power, and played by striking the 
strings on the inside instead, of the keys. Oh ! what a 
wonderful thing is this " odylic force," that supersedes 
mind in making intelligence.' " 

A friend of the writer was favored in the midst of his 
own family, with a performance of this kind. A table 
that had been set into a tortuous motion, by the medium- 
ship of little children, danced in common, triple, or com- 
pound time, to the music of a piano ; varying its motions 
according to the changes in the time. Certainly in this 
and the foregoing instances, the operations of mind and 
matter were combined in a marvellous way. 



THE INTELLIGENCE DISPLAYED. 69 

We have confined ourselves to the mention of physical 
manifestations, but these are not held to be the highest 
evidence of the fact that spirits do communicate with 
mortals. The intelligence that is conveyed through them, 
must come from intellect, and as in every instance it comes 
with avowed independence of the media, and often with 
confounding power to the persons addressed, it is claimed 
that the proof of the recently-developed spiritual inter- 
course between the living and their departed friends, 
is as complete as any rational man can ask. We give an 
instance of this intelligence taken from the author afore- 
said, pp. 284-287. 

THE INTELLIGENCE DISPLAYED. 

" One of the most remarkable cases is thus recorded 
by Mr. Elisha Waters, of Troy. He made the statement 
as follows in the Spiritual Telegraph : 

" ' Waterford, N. Y., March 21th, 1853. 

" ' Mr. Brlttan : Dear Sir : At a circle held in this 
village on the 5th of this month, there were some " man- 
ifestations" which bear so directly on the dispute in re- 
gard to the cause of the strange phenomena now so pre- 
valent, that a brief account may not be uninteresting to 
your readers. 

" ' Several mediums, in various stages of development, 
Avere present, and a great variety of manifestations were 
made, mainly in the form of "possession." In the course 
of the evening, Mr. John Prosser, a gentleman residing 
in Waterford, and subject to this possession in its most 
thorough form, was under the control of a spirit that an- 
nounced that no one in the room ever knew or heard of 
him, but that he was drawn to the circle by strong at- 
traction. He said he was over a hundred years old when 
he left the form ; was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, 
and had frequently seen Washington, of whom he spoke 
with great reverence. He told us, as the result of his 
long experience, to do our own thinking, and to read the 



70 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

great Book of Nature for our guidance ; but that we 
should not '•'•fight'''' the Church or the clergy, for their 
struggles would injure themselves more than others, and 
only help forward their approaching and long fore-writ- 
ten doom. He added, that the truth of spiritualism 
would now shine out without any aid from iconoclastic 
zeal. I should, perhaps, to do justice, say that he spoke 
of the Church as having accomplished a work, and as 
about to die a natural death after its great mission had 
been fulfilled. 

" ' I will give his closing remarks verbatim et literatim. 

' Now, this is every word true I'm telling ye. I'll tell 
ye, so that if you've a mind to take a little pains, you 
can find out that this is jest exactly as I tell it ye. I lived 
at Point Pleasant, New-Jersey, and if you want to know, 
you jest ask if old Uncle John Chamberlain didn't speak 
the truth.' 

" ' He stopped speaking, and the usual signs of a change 
of possession followed, when some one remarked that it 
was a pity he had not given more particulars, as it would 
have been, under the circumstances, so thorough a test. 
It soon became evident that Mr. Prosser's grandfather 
(who is, in a sense, his " guardian") had possession. He 
turned his face good-humoredly around the circle, and 
remarked, that, as he saw many were anxious to hear 
more from the " old man," he would come back for a fit- 
tie while. After a short interval of quiet, Mr. Prosser's 
whole manner changed to that which he had while the 
former speaker had possession, and these were his 
words : 

' My friends, I did not expect to speak with you again, 
but I want to give you this as a test. I died on Friday, 
the 15th day of January, 1847, and I was the father of 
eleven children. Now, if you've a mind to take a little 
pains, you will find this is all jest as I tell it ye. I don't 
talk as you do, but if you like to hear an old man, I will 
come again. Good by : I must go.' 

" ' It would be impossible to give an adequate notion 



SURPRISING INTELLIGENCE. 71 

of the plain, unvarnished truthfulness which shone out 
through every word and gesture of his discourse. Other 
" manifestations," of a similar character, foUowed, and the 
circle hroke up. 

" ' On the following evening, a circle was held at another 
house, but few of the members of the former circle being 
present, with some other persons. Mr. Prosser was the 
only medium present. Old Uncle John Chamberlain 
made his appearance again, and repeated the statistical 
part of his communication, when it was found that the 
scribe had written Pleasant Point, instead of Point 
Pleasant. 

" 'After finding out that there was such a post-office 
in New- Jersey as the latter, and that the 15th of January 
did fall on Friday in the year 1847, we wrote to the post- 
master, and were informed that the " old man" was strictly 
correct in his account of himself. We send you extracts 
from the letters received, which will suffice to show the 
remarkable fidelity of the spirit's statements to the facts 
of his personal history. 

■ We, the undersigned, were present at the first circle 
mentioned above, and think the account of it correct. 
We also affirm that we had never, to the best of our re- 
collection, known or heard aught of John Chamberlain, 
or any of the facts connected with his life or death ; nor 
did we know that there was such a place as Point Pleas 
ant in New-Jersey. 

John Prosser, E. Waters, 

Sarah S. Prosser, N. F. White, 
Juliet E. Perkins, Mrs. N. D. Ross, 
A. A. Thurber, N. D. Ross, 

Letty A. Botce, J. H. Rainey, 

Albert Kendrick, Mrs. J. H. Rainey.' 

" ' LETTER TO THE POSTMASTER OP POINT PLEASANT. 

'Troy, February 23d, 1853. _ 

' Dear Sir : Will you be kind enough to inform me if 

there has died in your town, within a few years, an aged 

man by the name of Chamberlain ? If so, please give 

me the particulars of the time of his death, age, etc. ; 



72 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

also, give me the name of one of the family with whom 
I can correspond * 

' Very truly yours, E. Waters.' 

" ' THE ANSWER. 

' Point Pleasant, 1th day, March, 1853. 
' E. Waters : Friend : I received thy letter, dated 
28th ult., requesting some information of John Chamber- 
lain. With pleasure I whl give thee a correct account, 
for I have known him well for fifty years, and lived a 
neighbor to him. He deceased January 15th, 184V, aged 
one hundred and four years. He had seven children 
that lived to be married ; three of them have deceased 
and left children. He has four daughters living at this 
time ; three of them are neighbors to me ; the oldest 
daughter is a widow, seventy-eight years old ; three have 
husbands ; one of them lives twenty miles from me. As 
they have very little learning, they request thee to cor- 
respond with me. With pleasure I will give thee every 
information that lays in my power. 

Very truly thine, 

' Thomas Cook. 



'P. S. — He was a Revolutionary soldier ; served in 
the war, and drew a small pension. T. C 



•> ■>■> 



"A PUNNT SPIRIT. 

"St. Louis, February, 1856. 
"After the accident at the Gasconade bridge last 
November, some of us were much interested in seeking 
communications with the departed, some thirty in number, 
and the most of whom were personally known to us. 
Among others, one night, we were pleased with the an- 
nouncement that the spirit of Thomas Grey desired to be 
questioned. Grey was an old citizen, a very worthy man, 

* ' Friend Brittak : After receiving the accompanying answer, I 
wrote again, making inquiry respecting the number of children he had, 
and received in reply that he had eleven ; that two died in infancy, 
and that the remaining nine lived to be of age. Truly yours." 



A FUNNY SPIRIT. 73 

a self-educated mechanic, and fond of his joke and social 
glass, although not intemperate at any time. The party 
consisted of Hamilton Wade, Charles Levy, myself, and 
Miss Sarah J. Irish, the medium. 

" To those who are not familiar with the manifestations 
as given through her, I will state that she caUs the alpha- 
bet to the raps, with such rapidity, that very few can 
keep up with her in taking them down; and that it is 
useless for the fastest of us to try to put them into words 
until afterward, when, by spacing, it reads correctly. 

"Quest. 1. Do you have clothing there? He replied : 
'As to clothing, Charley, we have that for a desire; friends 
clothe us till we understand the laws of particles suffi- 
ciently to clothe ourselves.' 

" 2. Do you have animals hi the spirit-world ? ' I have 
not seen any animal but myself since I left St. Louis.' 

"3. Have you a shadow-land there, or something ans- 
wering to Purgatory? 'I do not know what you are 
talking about. We have lights and shades, sunshine 
and shadows, in number enujf to satisfy any body. If 
that is what you want to know, there you have it.' 

" 4. Is there any difference between the body that you 
possess and of those spirits that have died a natural death? 
' I see many like me, and many onlike me. Of the two I 
like my own appearance best ; it is most airtheriaV 

" 5. Were you not surprised, on your entrance into the 
spirit-world, at its naturalness? 'No; I never was upset 
or astonished at any thing. It is the strange kind of 
heaven they have put me in, that I am most astonished 
at.' 

"6. How do you get along without your regular glass ? 
' I am astonished at the wonderful manner I get along 
without weting my whistle, and not geting dry in the least 
on account of it.' 

" At this point Mr. Wade addressed him, and desired to 
know if he could not assemble there thirty persons to- 
gether, and unite in a communication that should convince 
the citizens of St. Louis of the reality of spiritual inter- 
course, by containing such a volume of tests as should 
confound skepticism ? He rapped out : ' All very fine to 
talk about, Mr. What-is-your-name, and I should be very 



74 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

glad to accomidate you, but your feller-citizens would 
believe that it came from us about as much as from a 
hen's-foot marrow-bone. Good night.' 

"This last was a beautiful test to the close observer. 
Grey did not while on earth, know Mr. Wade, while he 
knew Levy and myself, and the medium knew him better 
than either of us — and it was mathematically absurd that 
she should spell out ' Mr. What-is-your-name,' when she 
knew him so well. It was satisfactory to us, at least, of 
his identity. "A. Mlltenbekger." 

— Telegraph March 1st, 1856. 

DIABOLICAL CONDUCT. 

"March 3, 1851. — Locke, the English philosopher, gave 
the 4th chapter of James, 7th, 11th, and 17th verses : '7. 
Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil 
and he will flee from you. 11. Speak not evil one of 
another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, 
and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and 
judgeth the law : but if thou judge the law, thou art not 
a doer of the law, but a judge. 17. Therefore, to him 
that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is 
sin.' 

" After the reading of these verses was finished, he spell- 
ed: 'I want you to practise these teachings.' In an- 
swer to a question what the word devil meant in the 7th 
verse, he spelled, ' Resist evil.' 

" Evil, which the spirits have been warning us against 
for several days past, seems fairly to have broken loose 
in our very midst, though not exactly in our circle. At 
a house in the neighborhood, where a medium resides, 
(the medium spoken of heretofore in this work,) manifes- 
tations have for some days been going on similar to those 
enacted at the house of Rev. Mr. Phelps, in Stratford, 
Connecticut, at a more early period of Spiritualism. 
Chairs, stove, furniture, and other ponderous things, are 
thrown about the house ; bed-clothes stripped from the 
beds where people of the house are sleeping; books thrown 
frequently from the table to the floor ; missiles thrown at 
the heads of people ; the medium's clothes torn from her 



AN EARTHQUAKE. 75 

body while wearing them ; tables moved and lifted from 
the floor, with people standing on them, etc., etc. — and all 
done without contact with any person or visible agency. 
Hundreds of people have been there to witness these 
things, and will testify to the truth of it. The medium 
is a young married woman, very ignorant, and reputation 
not good. She says she is frequently pinched violently 
on her arms when no person is near her, and shows the 
marks left, as if made with the thumb and finger of a 
hand. For nearly half the time, for three or four days, 
she has been in the most frightful fits, produced by fear, 
and it is thought that she can not long survive in this 
condition." — (Spiritual Reasoner, pp. 58, 59.) 

AN EARTHQUAKE. 

"March 19. — Locke came and spelled: 'To cultivate as. 
even temper is the first step towards heaven.' This was 
no doubt intended for some of our circle. While all were 
sitting in silence, some of the most wonderful spirit mani- 
festations we had ever witnessed were made. The whole 
house seemed to shake and rock to and fro, as if by an 
earthquake. The windows rattled, and the medium's 
head and upper part of his body appeared to be enveloped 
in the flames of an electric fire. He was much agitated, 
and trembled violently. In a few minutes all was again 
still, and Locke came and told us the manifestation was 
made by a spirit of high elevation and exceeding power. 
He then then tofcl us that fight was spreading in Warsaw, 
in Poland, more than in any other place where he was 
now communicating in Europe. We asked if the spirit 
of liberty and a desire for a restoration of their govern- 
ment were prevailing there. He spelled: ' The spirit of 
Christ is spreading there.' " — (Idem, pp. 71, 72.) 

A Kude Spirit. 

"Jan. 26. — While conversing with the medium this 
evening, in a room apart from where the rest of the com- 
pany were assembled, a small stone struck with some 
force against the stove-pipe and fell upon the floor, pro- 
bably to attract our attention ; then the stove (which 



76 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

would weigh at least one hundred and fifty pounds) 
made a sudden movement, which jarred the room ; the 
front part moved around several inches. As we were 
some distance from the stove, neither of us touching it, 
we were a little startled, and asked if this was a spirit 
manifestation. 

11 A. By rapping, ' Yes.' 

" Asked if we remained passive, any other manifesta- 
tion would be made. 

"A. ' Yes ;' and immediately we heard a loud report 
resembling the discharge of a pistol, which seemed to 
proceed from under the stove. We then heard rapping 
upon the floor, and we knew the sounds to be those 
made by Locke. We asked him if he would tell what 
spirit it was made the above-named manifestations. He 
answered, ' Yes ;' and spelled, ' Paul.' We told him 
we had been taught that the apostles, or spirits of elevat- 
ed spheres, never made demonstrations of this kind. He 
repeated the signal for the alphabet, and speUed ' Jones,' 
making the name ' Paul Jones.' We had interrupted 
him before he had finished spelling the name in full. He 
said Jones was not a bad spirit. We found the pebble- 
stone, which was thrown against the stove-pipe, lying upon 
the carpet, and preserved it. 

"It was a cold night, the doors and windows all closed. 
How the stone could be got into the room, is a mystery. 
Physical manifestations with us were of rare occurrence, 
which is the reason of describing this so minutely. We 
have, however, frequently heard tunes beat upon the 
table, loud and correctly ; seen lights moving about the 
room, etc., etc., but this is the first time we had witnessed 
a manifestation of this kind." (Idem, pp. 109, 110.) 

A Possession. 

" June 6. — Mr. Gardner is again with us on a visit, 
and a new order of manifestations is given through him. 
His spiritual sight is opened under the influence of spirits, 
and he sees the communication to be given in large golden 
letters on a groundwork or curtain which appears to be 
unrolled before him. A foreshadoAvino- of this manifesta- 



A POSSESSION. <77 

tion was given him on the 23d of February, 1851. (See 
page 50.) In being prepared for the peculiar state in 
which these communications are given, he becomes in a 
measure paralyzed ; his breathing at first is labored and 
difficult ; his eyes glassy and unnaturally brilliant. As 
soon as the spirit has sufficient control, he commences re- 
peating the words as they are presented to his vision, in 
a slow, distinct, and impressive manner. If he struggles 
against the influence when he feels it coming upon him, 
and endeavors to remain silent, the spirits will notify 
those present by the rappings (which he can not control) 
of their desire to communicate in this way, and he is 
much agitated and disturbed until he calmly submits and 
resigns himself passively to this powerful yet harmless in- 
fluence. The singular changes and appearance produced 
upon the medium during this phenomenon at first were 
rather startling to all of us, but we were soon quieted, 
and our attention wholly absorbed by the words which 
proceeded from his lips. The first communication re- 
ceived through him by this method, is already inserted 
in the introduction to this work, but we think it also en- 
titled to another insertion here, under the date of its 
occurrence, as follows : 

" These manifestations are yet in their dawn, and all 
the evil loves of men, and all the powers of hell are 
arrayed against the truth, yet the omnipotent Lord Jesus 
Christ is in them, and their progress, however slow, is 
sure. Bigotry may cavil, skepticism may sneer, prejudice 
may turn away her face in scorn, the serpent may be 
permitted to rear aloft its hideous crest and bruise the 
spirit of men for a time and times and a hah" times, 
but the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's 
head ; as sure as the Lord God liveth and reigneth, so 
sure will these manifestations go on for ever. The sun 
could as soon be staid by the puny hand of man, as 
could these manifestations by any mortal power. They 
may be opposed and ridiculed, for so it has ever been 
with truth, but they can not be crushed. Their march is 
onward for ever, conquering and to conquer, until the 
kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of God and 
his Christ, and he reign for ever and ever. 

" John Locke." 



78 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

In obtaining the above communication, the medium 
"was only permitted to see each word or sentence as fast 
as it was written down ; so it was impossible any error 
should occur. As soon as it was finished he returned to 
the normal state, with a slight shock, similar to that pro- 
duced by holding the wires of a mildly-charged electrical 
machine." (Idem, pp. 153-155.) 

It has been said that all the intelligence manifested in 
the operations of spirits, is owing to clairvoyance, or to 
fraud upon the part of the media. With regard to the 
first allegation, it is denied by the media themselves ; but 
if this power really exists, it may account for a great por- 
tion of it, while in many instances the matter communicat- 
ed, needs no other reference than the mind of the medium 
to satisfy us of its origin ; yet we have seen accounts appa- 
rently well authenticated, where clairvoyance did not 
afford a satisfactory solution. 

With regard to the charge of fraud, that appears to 
be fully exploded by ingenious contrivances made by 
Prof. Hare of Philadelphia, to prevent the possibility of 
deception by the media. One of these is an oblong table, 
with casters under the pair of legs upon the right, and 
an axle with a small wheel at each end under the pair upon 
the left, one of them being grooved. A disk, having 
the alphabet arranged upon it, as the figures upon the dial 
of a clock, is vertically fixed to revolve upon a spindle 
through its centre fastened to the frame of the table. A 
band connects the aforesaid grooved wheel with a groov- 
ed hub on the spindle behind the disk ; an index, like 
that of a clock is fixed upon the end of the spindle ; so 
that when the table moves to the right or left, this disk 
revolves to bring the letters in succession under the index. 
Upon the opposite side of the table, and behind the disk, 
the medium takes her seat ; and her hands are placed, 



THE SPIEITOSCOPE. 79 

not upon the table, but upon a plate of zinc which rests 
upon two balls perfectly round and within a few inches 
of each other on the table. It will be seen that thus sit- 
uated, no mortal could possibly move the smallest table, 
much less one of six feet by sixteen inches. Yet through 
a medium thus situated, Professor Hare says he obtained 
intelligent communications spelled out, when she could 
neither see the letters nor move the table. If such be the 
true fact, then this is apparently satisfactory, and it reduces 
us to a choice between two opinions. Either Prof. Hare, 
with thousands of others are insane, and are all parties to a 
preconcerted fraud, notwithstanding they are scattered 
all over our country and Europe ; or bodies are moved 
with a physical force and by an intelligent agent which 
can only be explained by admitting the claim of spirit- 
presence and power. 

Our limits forbid other accounts, many of which are be- 
fore us, stating how, when, and where spirits have given 
" unmistakable" tests of their presence and identity, rap- 
ping out, or spelling out, through the media, long and 
short paragraphs of intelligence ; all of which are present- 
ed as infallible proof of sphit-communion in which mor- 
tals are made sensible of their immortality, and the 
bereaved and sorrowful comforted by the presence and 
soothing influence of departed friends, whose happiness is 
augmented by ministering to their spiritual necessities. 

We have quoted largely, that the nature of the facts 
relied on, may be fully understood by that portion of our 
readers who have felt no inclination to know what is the 
nature, progress, or practical operation of the newest 
" humbug of the day." 

The great element of strength in this movement profess- 
es to come from the spirit-world. It augments its num- 
bers daily. Every effort hitherto made, to prove these 



80 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

manifestations to be from some other source than spirits, 
has shared the fate of most all other attempts at proving 
a negative. These efforts have every where been made, 
and hitherto have everywhere failed to trace the pheno- 
mena to mundane causes. It is therefore a subject not 
to be treated with levity, for whether it be as to its claims, 
a system oftruth or falsehood, the interests are incalculable, 
involving the everlasting welfare or the woe of millions. 
Nothing can exceed the positiveness of assurance that 
every adherent manifests, and the earnestness of spirit 
that pervades the various works written by the propagan- 
dists of this novel cause. There is entire truth in the fol- 
lowing paragraph of Rev. C. Beecher, in his " Review of 
Spiritual Manifestations," p. 58. 

" Whoever, ignorant of the publications of the move- 
ment, imagines that these claims are not forcibly wielded, 
with ingenuity, candor, popular adaptation, and success, 
is egregiously mistaken. The movement is rapidly ad- 
vancing, and becoming one of the signs of the times." 



TELE FIRST TEST. 81 



CHAPTER H. 

"Prove all things: hold fast that which is good !"— Paul. 
THE FIRST TEST OF SPIRITUALISM. 

Census of Spiritualism — A Challenge — Assurances given — The Author's 
Earnestness — The Mental Test improved — First Sitting, Poor Encourage- 
ment — Second Sitting, no Satisfaction — Third Sitting, written Commu- 
nication — Mendacity — Fourth Sitting, Spirits fail — Fifth Sitting, a Pos- 
session — Sixth Sitting, Communication connected — A bad Failure — 
Seventh Sitting, a worse Failure — Eighth Sitting, " Dark Circle" — 
Ninth Sitting, no Satisfaction— Spiritual Library gathered— Tenth Sit- 
ting, the worst Failure — A Conclusion — A good Test — Personating De- 
mons — Eleventh Sitting, Showers of Raps — Good Test — Communica- 
tions — Twelfth Sitting — " Spiritoscope"-test — Thirteenth Sitting, an im- 
portant Fact — Fourteenth Sitting, Reputation of Spiritoscope damaged 
— Fifteenth Sitting, Tests, etc. 

We have now given a chapter of facts, which might 
easily he enlarged to the size of this volume, to show 
what is the ground- work of this wonderful modern move- 
ment. Whether the reader reject or accept them, in 
svhole or in part, does not alter the fact of their influence 
throughout this and other communities, and hence, 
whether true or false, it is essential that they be under- 
stood in the outset of all intelligent research. 

To condemn without investigation matter submitted 
to us by men of acknowledged sense and ability, is as 
ridiculous as to hold a man guilty upon mere imputation, 
until he prove himself innocent. 
4* 



82 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

A host of well-authenticated facts, like those in the 
first chapter, that have fallen upon the sober senses of 
thousands of witnesses, prejudiced in the outset of their 
investigations, competent to sit on any jury in the land as 
judges of facts, and whose testimony in the matter before 
us, is just as good as if given under oath, compelled the 
writer to investigate for himself, not because he could 
doubt the superabundance of evidence already given, but 
because he had a good opportunity, and his Profession, 
as he conceived, demanded it. Who are these witnesses ? 
Here is the answer given some two years ago. 

" Though these modern ' spirit-manifestations ' com- 
menced but five years since, and, at first, only attracted 
the attention of two little girls by some slight tappings 
in their presence, there are now from twenty to thirty 
modes of manifestation, some of them of the most as- 
tounding character. 

" It has been stated that there are a hundred thousand 
mediums, and two and a half millions of believers,* in 
this country alone, to say nothing of the many thousands 
in Europe. 

"The attention of the British Parliament has been 
called to it ; the French Academy of Science has long 
been considering it ; and a memorial, signed by thirteen 
thousand persons, has been presented to the Congress of 
the United States, asking for a special committee to con- 
sider the subject. 

" There are in the United States some twenty newspa- 
pers and periodicals principally devoted to it, and up- 
wards of one hundred different publications on the sub- 
sect. 

t " It numbers among its advocates many men of the 
highest standing and talent, in every profession and 

* The number now is claimed to be some 4,000,000 ! as I have been 
informed by an intelligent Spiritualist, who is a regular physician and an 
educated gentleman. But great allowance must be made to the love of 
the maveUous. 



A CHALLENGE. 83 

sphere. Doctors, lawyers, clergymen, a Protestant 
bishop, professors, and a reverend president of a college, 
foreign ambassadors and ex-members of the national 
senate. 

"The rapid progress of belief in the reality of the phe- 
nomena does not depend so much upon the testimony of 
others, however reliable, as upon the personal observation 
and experience which probably every believer has had. 
Thousands of living witnesses testify, on the very day 
of their occurrence, that they have seen, felt, and heard 
the phenomena, and are compelled to believe in their 
reality, spite of their obstinate prejudices against them. 

" There is no question about the authenticity of the 
testimony, the character and competency of those who 
testify, or the time and place. The names of all the 
parties, and • all the circumstances of the events, are 
given, and the witnesses are now before you, ready to be 
questioned." — JVeio Test, Miracles, pp. 10,11. 

The names of men in high places, connecting them- 
selves with this movement, may be mentioned ; but it is 
proper at the same time to present the evidence of their 
sincerity and supposed strong position. The following 
is extracted from an "Address of the Society for the 
Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge, to the citizens of the 
United States :" written some two or three years ago ; 
and headed by the name of Gov. Tallmadge. 

" We CHALLENGE you as men — as earnest men, as 
men desiring the good of your fellows — to come forth 
and meet us in the fight, expose our errors, draw the 
shroud away, and enable the world to see us as we are. 
We challenge you to come and do that thing. 

" We believe that spirituality is a heaven-born truth. 
We profess to know that angels from heaven — that the 
spirits of good men progressing towards perfection have 
come here upon the earth we stand on, and talked with 
us face to face, and uttered words to us bearing the im- 
press of their divine origin. We sincerely believe this. 
We are respectable men ; we do not believe ourselves to 



84 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

be insane. We ask you to come and meet us, and discuss 
the question with us ; to examine these facts which we 
allege, and to prove, if you are able, either that these 
facts never did occur, or that their origin is other than 
that which it purports to be." 

The names, claims, and positions of the gentlemen 
signing this address, will save any man from ridicule who 
accepts their challenge, which we do ; and warrant any 
man to make earnest, persevering inquiry upon this sub- 
ject, without incurring the censure of the wise and good. 
A further protection is found in the fearless examples 
and avowed opinions of clergymen, who have watched 
this movement with increasing interest ; such as the fol- 
lowing: 

" Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Clark, one of the ablest clergy- 
men of Hartford, Ct., concludes a letter as follows : ' I am 
aware that to ascribe so much importance to such a sub- 
ject as this, will lead those who know nothing about it to 
suspect the soundness of one's judgment, and it will be 
said that our wisest course is to let it alone ; it is one of 
the humbugs of the day, and will soon die itself.' It 
may be so, but the indications do not point that way at 
present. Men of the highest scientific reputation acknow- 
ledge themselves to be perplexed ; judges of our high- 
est courts and of the widest experience, are personally 
identified with these phenomena ; clergymen are question- 
ed by their parishioners ; the most important principles of 
our religion are called in question. Meanwhile, is it right 
for the clergy, who profess to be the teachers of the peo- 
ple, to remain silent, when they believe that souls com- 
mitted to their charge are being lured to destruction ?' " 
— Answers to /Seventeen Objections, p. 6. 

In the same little work, we are informed that — " at a sit- 
ting of several clergymen for the purpose of investigating 
this subject, the following communication was received," 
(from spirits :) 



THE AUTHOR'S MOTIVE. 85 

" ' Brethren have you not seen theneedof a tangible mani- 
festation to convince the skeptical man of his immortality ? 
How many have refused to enter the portals of a church, 
who would not refuse (prompted by curiosity) to investi- 
gate these rappings ! Then rejoice that God in his great 
mercy and loving-kindness has permitted ministering 
angels to knock at the door of the skeptic's heart, to 
awaken him, to sensibility.' " 

The fact that persons who have read about these won- 
derful manifestations were made more liable to be 
taken with them, from his inability to give a satisfactory 
answer, determined the writer to seek from the best 
sources, for all necessary information, both for his own 
sake, and for the sake of others. He determined to go 
to fountain-head, and taking the advice of spiritualistic 
authors, to pursue an independent investigation, prepared 
to follow wherever truth might lead. 

Judge Edmonds says, respecting the communications 
given by spirits : " Their character has been such as to 
warrant me in saying I have been struck with their beau- 
ty — their sublimity at times— and the uniformly elevated 
tone of morals which they teach. They are eminently 
practical in their character, and not a sentiment is to be 
found that would be unacceptable to the most pure and 
humble Christian. The lessons which they teach are 
those of love and kindness, and are addressed to the 
calm and deliberate reason of man, asking from him no 
blind faith, but a careful inquiry and a deliberate judg- 
ment." {Spiritualism, vol. i., p. 54.) 

This is beyond question staking intellect, judgment, re- 
putation, and all that a sane man values, upon the truth 
of the matters spoken of; and that too by a man who, from 
his position, one would think, was well aware of the fact, 
he had a good deal to lose. More than this he says : 

" We may say not merely that ' we believe,' but that 



86 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

' we know,' and what is most interesting is, that the evidence 
is within every man'sreach. He has but to knock, and it will 
be opened to him — he has but to ask, and he may receive. 
No man lives but he may, if he pleases, evidence most sa- 
tisfactory, that the friends whom he has laid in the grave, 
do yet live and can commune with him." — " I know I can 
not be mistaken. Whether I am or not, the means are 
fortunately at hand to determine. I repeat, they are 
within every man's reach." (Spiritualism, vol ii., p. 49.) 

Nothing could be more satisfactory to one conscious of 
a powerful desire to know the truth on this subject. The 
public character and strong assurance of the Judge made us 
quite certain of important discoveries and results ; and to test 
the truth of these statements, to which we felt challenged, 
and despising that spirit that does not dare to wander be- 
yond the orbit of narrowness in which it had been accus- 
tomed to move, the writer sought and found certain media 
in the pay of the aforesaid Society for the Conversion of 
Skeptics ; and also other approved media with whom he 
might have protracted sittings. 

The first test, therefore, of Modern Spiritualism, will be 
found in his own experience. He wishes it distinctly un- 
derstood, that all the foregoing considerations and a 
deeply-felt sense of responsibility arising from his position 
in life, not only awakened high interest, but also great 
caution, in the prosecution of his inquiries. Bound to in- 
vestigate whatever concerned the danger or the prosper- 
ity of the Church, he did not feel himself at liberty to de- 
cline this subject, because he is satisfied that within the 
last two years more has been gained to Spiritualism from 
the Church, than has been gained to the Church from the 
world. Whatever clergymen and other Christians may 
think of it, he is quite sure they can not afford much 
longer to remain indifferent to its success, nor to treat it 
with contempt. The writer could not satisfy himself to 



THE MENTAL TEST. 87 

remain unable to answer the inquiries of others, who ad- 
dressed him on the subject. He looked upon the cry of 
"humbug" and "delusion" as very unfair and unwise. 
The question — " What do you thestk of it ?" and his ac- 
knowledged inability to answer in a satisfactory way 
that question, have laid the minds of church-members 
more directly open to acquiescence in the asserted truth 
of Spiritualism under the pressure of physical manifesta- 
tions occurring before their eyes, of offered tests apparently 
well sustained, and of arguments applied at the same time. 
Minds thus overtaken and overcome may have been weak, 
may not have been well settled in the general principles 
of the Scriptures ; but that is only an additional argument 
for personal investigation upon the part of the clergyman, 
that he may be able to guide such persons in their in- 
quiries — for inquiries they will make. 

Only on a few occasions has the writer resorted to a 
circle ; and was disatisfied. He preferred to be closeted 
alone with the medium, to prevent all accidents arising 
from disturbance of equanimity of mind, and from circum- 
stantial inability to concentrate it upon questions proposed 
to Spirits ; besides, he wanted all the time to himself. 
With a few exceptions, he proposed his questions mentally, 
as directed ; and in almost every case received an answer 
by raps on the table, or by the table rearing up on two 
legs, and making the raps with the other two upon the 
floor. This latter method is more satisfactory, because 
the table is raised up against the hands and forearms of 
the medium resting upon it. 

The asking of questions mentally is regarded and recom- 
mended as the best test, because the medium can not have 
a chance by any hocus-pocus to dictate the answers, un- 
less he or she be a clairvoyant ; in that case (if clairvoy- 
ancy be true) the medium might see your mind concen- 



88 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

trating upon your question, and thus render the precau- 
tion useless. At all events it is the best test. Having 
however observed, that most all questions naturally fall 
into a form requiring an affirmative answer, the writer 
thought it would be an improvement upon this test, to ask 
mentally each question twice in opposite forms, so that 
truthful answers would always be the first affirmative, 
and the other negative. This method has been generally 
pursued, having an obvious advantage ; and in the end 
proved quite satisfactory. 

The reader will have to rely, in this matter, on the writer's 
veracity ; should that be questioned, it will then be time 
enough to strengthen his word in the best way he can. 
It is proper to say that all his questions were prepared be- 
fore going to the Medium, in every case except one, and 
also that he had to compensate the persons whose time 
he absorbed, which is no matter of complaint, except on 
the ground of exorbitant charges — a circumstance that 
tends to damage the cause, since people, especially after 
the reception of the communication, feel very much as 
though they had not received a quid pro quo, by a hun- 
dred per cent. This, however, did not interfere at all with 
the conscience of the writer, because he started with a full 
intent to pay for his schooling. 

The object of the author, in the following examination, 
was to ascertain whether the strong assurances of Judge 
Edmonds and his co-laborers in the cause of spiritualism, 
might be verified in his own experience, according to the 
confident language in which they are clothed. For this 
purpose he meant if possible, to get at the truth on the 
following points : 

1'. Are the rappings and tippings produced by some ex- 
traneous cause, with which the Media are simply associat- 
ed as instruments ? 

2. Is that cause to be accredited with any degree of in- 



FIRST SITTING. 89 

manifested through them, and which it is 
seemingly irrational to ascribe to the minds of the Me- 
dia? 

3. Whether the doctrines of spiritualism will be verified 
by the application of the mental test to this asserted in- 
telligent agency, inthe way the author proposes to use it ? 

It will be remembered the author is not writing merely 
for learned men, but for those who are unlearned and un- 
stable, and are liable to be taken by strange things, and 
made to believe whatever those things may be said to 
confirm, simply because they can not explain, and have 
no general principles to fall back upon for relief. 

With regard to the first point, it may as well be said 
here, that the answer must be given in the affirmative. 
Repeated trials of the most satisfactory kind, enable us 
to pronounce with entire confidence. We have heard of 
and seen attempts made to imitate these things by 
those who professed to " do the tricksf but they have all 
failed. 

Respecting the other points, we defer remarks until the 
reader has gone over the ground with us. 

FIRST SITTING. 

Dec. 10th, 1855. I called at the office of the Spiritual 
Telegraph to inquire for a well-developed and duly-ac- 
credited Medium. I was fortunate in finding one there 
— a Miss G. who, I was told by a gentleman present, was 
a capital one. At once I made an appointment with her for 
a sitting eleven days ahead. The result was a most disgust- 
ing exhibition of evident imposture, kept up for an hour ; 
and my resolution to pursue the subject well nigh gave 
way. But as I had commenced with the intention of be- 
coming qualified to answer the question — "What is 
spiritualism ?" — and as I had seen Judge Edmonds's cau- 



90 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

tions against imposition, as well as his assurances of suc- 
cess to all who would consent to investigate, I determin- 
ed not to be hasty. 

SECOND SITTING. 

Dec. 19th. Attended a circle at which presided a rap- 
ping medium in the pay of the Society for the conversion 
of Skeptics. 

"When my turn came, I asked mentally the following 
questions : 

" Is there a spirit present to communicate with me ?" 
" Yes." 

" Are you the spirit of my Mother P" ' " Yes." (My 
mother is living?) 

" "Will you spell your name ?" Here the Medium direct- 
ed me to write out several names, including that of my 
mother, and then pointing to each, ask whether it were 
the name of the spirit present. My mother's name is 
Elizabeth. Besides that, I put down Betsie, and while 
several others were replied to in the negative, these names 
in my questions were both claimed by the spirit. 

My time was up, and I had to give way for another 
skeptic. Of course this sitting was as unsatisfactory as 
the former. 

THIRD SITTING. 

At 2 o'clock on the same day, I went to another me- 
dium, said to be employed by the Society ; and having 
chosen an hour for myself, I had as much time as I want- 
ed. I was much pleased with Mr. C, who seemed a con- 
scientious believer, and wasdisposedto help me all he could. 
Having told him I was an inquirer, and had read 
enough on the subject to excite my desire to thoroughly 
sift the claims of spiritualism, he replied that " there was 



THIRD SITTING. 91 

not much use in reading : the surest way was personal 

examination." 

We proceeded to business. Mr. C. is a tipping medium. 
He has before him a small table, say two and a half feet 
by ten inches surface, the legs of which run up to a very 
narrow frame, so that there was nothing that could con- 
ceal. The palms of his hands and his fore-arms rested 
upon it, and the table reared up on two legs, raising his 
arms with it, and with the other two, made the raps upon 
the floor. Sometimes this was done so rapidly and heav- 
ily as to jar the arms of the medium. This " manifesta- 
tion" was certainly more satisfactory than the knocking, 
because I saw it was physically impossible that the medium 
could produce this action in the table, which was against 
the natural weight of the arms lying passively upon it. 
I sat on the other side and placed my hand upon the 
table, to ascertain if possible how the motion was made. 
There was nothing under the table ; there were no con- 
trivances in the floor, for I had previously lifted it, looked 
under it, and saw that it had a very narrow frame, and 
was very light. I am sure that the motion could not be 
produced by the medium in a normal state, unless he has 
the power to conteract gravitation ; and I am equally sure 
he has not that power. 

By his direction, I took small slips of paper and wrote 
on them the names of relationship, certain spirits sustain- 
ed to me, such Father, Aunt, Cousin. Folding each so as 
to conceal the writing, I laid them upon the table, point- 
ing to each in turn, and asking: "Whether the spirit bearing 
to me that relation, was present ?" Two tips said, " No," 
Three tips, " Yes." When the finger touched the right 
one, the table tipped rapidly twice, making a loud noise 
each time. The paper thus selected I took up, and the 
others were thrown unopened hi the fire. Having 



92 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

examined, I found the word "Father," but did not 
reveal it. 

By the medium's direction, I then wrote the names 
of the aforesaid relatives, on other slips of paper, folding 
them as before ; and while in the act of writing a cousin's 
name, the medium was seized with a trembling, and said 
the spirit was going to write, and with great spasmodic 
action of the hand and arm, the following communication 
was made. 

" I am happy to meet you here, my son ; and find your 
mind in a condition for me to approach you. Spirits do 
co mm unicate, and when conditions are favorable, can re- 
ply to questions. I am here with your aunt and cousin 
Jane. Your Father, Robert." 

The only mistake here was in putting " Jane" at the 
end of the line, instead of after the word " aunt ;" but 
this is hardly worth mention. The medium did not know 
me or mine : he had not seen or heard any of the names 
I wrote, and therefore I was somewhat startled with the 
promptness and correctness of the signature, for my 
father's name was Robert ; I had told the medium that 
I came with a list of questions, and proceeded, with his 
approval of my method, to ask them mentally as follows : 

Q. Will the spirit answer these questions, I have writ- 
ten ? A, Yes ; three tips. 

Q. Is /Spiritualism a deception ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Spiritualism true ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Edmonds deceived? A. No. 

Q. Is not Edmonds deceived ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Hare deceived ? A. No. 

Q. Is not Hare deceived ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Talhnadge deceived ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Talhnadge not deceived. A. No. (Faintly.) 



THIRD SITTING. 93 

Q. Is the plenary inspiration of the Bible true f 
A. Yes. 

Q. Is the plenary inspiration of the Bible false? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Is spiritualism of coordinate authority with the 
Bible? A. Yes. 

Q. Is spiritualism of an importance such as the Bible ? 
A. Yes. (Emphatic.) 

Q. Is the Devil a fabulous being? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the Devil a real being ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Christ God and Man ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is there any such being as Christ ? A. (Indefinite.) 

Q. Can any one be saved but by Christ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is man a progressive being ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is man a stationary being ? -4. Yes. 

(>. Is Polytheism true ? .4. No. 

Q. Was Moses a Mormon ? yl. Yes. 

$. Is not your communication an attempt at imposi- 
tion? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the medium before me an impostor ? A. Yes. 

Q. Have I a brother ? A. Yes. (Untrue.) 

Q. Have I a sister ? -4. Yes. (Untrue.) 

Q. A wife ? ^4. Yes. 

Q. Have I a child ? .4. Yes. (Untrue.) 

Q. Are you a lying spirit ? ^4. Yes. 

$. Are you a good spirit ? A. No. 

$. Can I rely on your truthfulness ? A. Yes. 

#. Will you spell my name ? No answer. 

Here I asked the question aloud, and the medium 
directed me to write several names, and my own among 
them, which I had not announced. I did so, secretly. 
I had just begun to write the last initial of my name, 
when the raps came, and the medium said, " You are 
writing it now," which was a fact. 



94 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

It will be seen that of thirty-one questions, only^ye 
were answered in the negative, four of these being contra- 
dictions to four others affirmatively put, besides seven 
other contradictions, making, in all, twelve lies told by 
this spirit, who had written me a communication as a test 
of the truth of his identity! My father was a truthful 
man when on earth, and bore as good a character as any 
other mortal then extant. Now, if this were the spirit of 
my father, it is evident he has progressed backwards, and 
become a gross liar, which can not be true according to 
spiritualism. If he were not my father, but a deceiving 
spirit, then the best test named by Judge Edmonds has 
failed. 

FOURTH SITTING. 

Dec. 20th. I visited the circle of the other medium, 
Miss F., employed by the Society. There was no male 
present but myself, in a company of some thirty-five. 
Having obtained a seat at the table first, I began my 
mental questions, but all failed. Several questions like 
the following were put : 

Q. Will the spirit present communicate with me ? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Are you the spirit of my mother? A. Yes. (She 
is alive.) 

Q. Is the whole Bible infallibly true f A. Yes. 

Q. Is the whole Bible infallibly false f A. Yes. 

My time was up, and I left. It is perfectly evident that 
the whole of the above is a deception. Let it be remem. 
bered that this medium is employed, at a salary, for the 
conviction and conversion of skeptics, by means of this 
circle ; that Judge Edmonds assures us that any indivi- 
dual can, if he will, by these means, arrive at a reasonable 
amount of evidence for the truth of spiritualism ; that he 
is allowed to ask any questions, mentally or orally, with 



FIFTH SITTING. 95 

the assurance of enjoying a test that will convince a rea- 
sonable man, provided it be done in sincerity. Now, 
will any spiritualist say that I had any reason, thus far, 
to accredit these statements ? After the fourth trial, 
made in all sincerity, but of course in a state of absolute 
skepticism, would I not have been justified in rejecting 
the whole thing as an imposture ? Thus I reasoned, but 
I had determined not to be hasty. 

FIFTH SITTING. 

Dec. 22d. I visited Mr. T. S. P., who has been a seer 
and a healing-medium for the last eighteen months. He 
said that in his native place, in Massachusetts, he had 
been a member of an Orthodox Congregational Church 
for some twelve years before he became a medium; that he 
was surprised at what he saw when this event took place ; 
and having given an account of his progression in the mat- 
ter of spirit-seeing, he said he was utterly unable to explain 
the facts in his own experience. He affirmed that he actu- 
ally saw spirits in the human form, attendant upon the steps 
of passengers in the street, in broad day-light, at will. 
He described them as human shapes, apparently of com- 
pressed light, denser than the surrounding light, and 
wearing a sort of gossamer-like flowing robe ; or as adum- 
brated, and more attenuated than the surrounding 
medium. He further said he knew them to be spirits, 
because some of them had told him so, and he realized a 
sort of whispered colloquial talk, as it were, in the inte- 
rior of his brain, conveying to him new ideas and impres- 
sions, such as he never before had. He also affirmed that 
he then saw a spirit standing by my side, (it was about 4 
o'clock P.M.,) and he described it as compressed light, 
in a human form, as well defined as my own, but a little 
shorter in stature, having its hand upon my head. He 



96 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

asked me if I did not feel as though something was in my 
hair. I did not. This spirit now moved his hand upon 
my forehead, then stood off a little, looking at me, and 
then taking hold of my arm ! 

This gentleman is entranced, and possessed by the 
spirit of an Irishman, whom he called his " guardian 
angel." This spirit is a very pure-minded, accommo- 
dating, and useful companion. He was known, when in 
" the form," by the name of Patrick, and was dismissed 
some years ago from this earthly sphere, by a railroad 
accident. In the spirit-world he is a Porter ; not like 
your Irish porters of earth with hand-carts, but a carrier 
of messages from spirits in the higher spheres to indivi- 
duals in the flesh, made known through the medium. 
His chief business is, through him, to ferret out, and de- 
scribe, and prescribe for all diseases " which flesh is heir 
to." 

When he enters his medium, the latter is unconscious, 
and his vocal organs are used by the spirit as though they 
were his own, twisting them to the capabilities of the 
" rich Irish brogue," and with rapid utterance, using the 
tones, cadences, inflections, and expressions peculiar to 
a " far-down" Paddy, to the imitation of which, the me- 
dium says he is incompetent, in his normal state. 

Having told him I had come for investigation, and 
would like to have a talk with Pat, he said he knew very 
little about it, but was willing to give me all the infor- 
mation he could, and that Pat would take possession of 
him soon, and then would talk with me. 

The temperament of this medium I take to be nervous- 
sanguine, having an animated, prepossessing countenance, 
plump and fair. "We were conversing upon the matter, 
when lo ! he was cut off short, by an apparently involun- 
tary shudder and jerk, which quickly passed over his whole 
frame. The eyes were closed, having the lids permanently 



FIFTH SITTING. 97 

aud tightly fastened down, like those of a blind man, while 
the brows would knit, and work the up-and-down motions 
usual in an animated talk. The whole countenance 
strangely assumed the Irishest expression imaginable; 
and sure enough, drawing up his chair, Pat began : 

Pat. " Well, me frin', I would like to have a bit of a 
conversation wid ye." I replied : " I am happy to see 
you, Patrick. We poor mortals know but little, while 
you in the other world are far in advance of us ; and I 
have come here to be enlightened on the subject of spir- 
itualism, and should be grateful for any information I 
might obtain." 

Pat. " Troth, me frin', an' I'll see an' do fwhat I can ; 
but dther's somethin' dth' matther wid ye down dthere," 
(pointing towards my loins.) 

" WeU, what is it ?" 

Pat. " I can't somehow jist make out fwhat it's, but I 
see dthere, jist forenint me fingher, somethin' not right." 
(I had then a dull pain in the region of the kidneys.) 
" I see two leetle childher about ye, an' I dthink they 
are brodther an' sisther till ye." 

" Oh ! no, Pat, I never had either." 

Pat. "No? Well, I can't make out who dthey 
belong till." 

" Can you tell me any thing about my father, now in 
the spirit-world ?" 

Pat. " No, dade I don't know anny thing about him, 
but I'll away an' fine him out, an' I'll see about dth' 
childher too." 

He then gave the medium a shake and a twitch, and 
was off. The latter, rubbing his eyes, assumed his natu- 
ral expression and voice, solemnly assuring me he knew 
nothing of what had passed. I could not resist the im- 
pression that he was playing a hoax, and yet all appear- 
5 



98 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

ances were against that supposition ; especially the pecu- 
liarity of the eye's being like that of a dead man's, with 
the lid glued to the hall, and not in the least partaking of 
the motion of the animated brow. After talking awhile 
about this strange phenomenon, the spirit came back, 
and like a man jumping into a boat, caused a great 
commotion, as in the first instance. Now the same 
altered countenance, Irish as ever, was again before me ; 
and with an exulting shake of the head, decidedly Irish 
and awkward, thus he began : 

Pat. " Bedad, I foun' him — yeer fadther !" 

" Well, can you describe him ?" 

Pat. " Yis ; he is a leetle tallher and sthouther nor you ; 
I mane bigger-like about dth' shouldhers, an' a leetle 
sthoop'd, but not very sthout about dth' body." (This 
was true.) " He diedt a long time ago here in dth' citty, 
away down dthat way," (pointing south. This was also 
true.) " Whin yeer fadther was in dth' form, I dthink 
he did somethin' or anodther about d'th ships." (This was, 
for a considerable time, remotely true.) I foun' out about 
dth' childher, too, for dthey had diedt in a neighborin' 
house, of croup, afore him, an' he was burridt near 
dthim ; an' dthis is dth' rason fwhy I saw dthim about 
yees. In dth' speret-worldt dthey have grow'd up now." 

" Can you tell me in what sphere my father is, and 
what was his name ?" 

Pat. " He is in dth' fiffc shphere. In dth' speret-worldt 
dthey have not dth' same names, as in dthis. Yeer 
fadther's name there is dth' Counshellor, becaas, his buish- 
ness is to instruck dth' sperets dthat are below him." 

" Is there really a Devil in the next world ?" 

Pat. " No, nor is dthere anny hell, or lake burnin' wid 
fire an' brimshtone, as is said upon airth." 

" Well, what becomes of the wicked ?" 



FIFTH SITTING. 99 

Pat. " Och ! dthey go into the lowest shphere, fwhere 
dthey will progriss, afther a while." 

" But do they not suffer for their sins ?" 

Pat. " Yis, in some sich way as dthis — for inchthance ; 
if one man murdhers anodther, whin he comes to quit 
dth' form, he must look for dth' speret of dth' murdher'd 
man, an' ask his pardon; for he will he onaisy in his con- 
science. All dth' hell dthere is, is in conscience. An' 
dth' sowl is not held responshihle for deeds committed 
by dth' passionate animal speret." 

" Is there such a being as Jesus Christ ?" 

Pat. " Yis, he was the greatest madegium dthat ever 
lived, but was nothin' more dthan a mere man." 

" Does it make any difference then what a man's reli- 
gion is ?" 

Pat. " Hoot,' dth' divil a bit : if he lives a dacent moral 
life, its all dthat's required from him. For inchthance, if a 
mudther hash dtifferent kinds of nutch — some of dth em pa- 
nutch, some waal-nutch, some chesh-nutch, an' so on ; ye 
see dth' mudther distributes dthem alike among dth' 
childher ; an' they crack dthim an' find a good kernel in 
aich, an' dthrow all the sheUs away. So wid dth' dtifferent 
religions. In aich, dthere ish a good kernel." 

" When you were in the form, Patrick, what was your 
religion ?" 

Pat. " Och ! but I was of dth' worst of thim — I was a 
Roman Cattholic, an' I assure ye, be me fwortd, I have 
niver seen dth' Virgin Mary since I've been in dth' speret- 
worldt. No, indade, I have not." 

"While musing for a moment, Pat took advantage of 
my silence; and giving the medium another shake, he 
left for his own place : and so did I. 

The reader can compare this with an instance of the 
same sort already given. He is at liberty to think that 



100 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

I was victimized. I can not here give the details that 
would show otherwise, because it would take up too 
much room. I do not think I can be easily duped, 
though I make no pretensions to special shrewdness. 
. Hitherto I have been inclined to think that the Demo- 
niacs of the New Testament, were not cases of actual pos- 
sessions ; because, though the word demon as used among 
the ancients meant any kind of spirit, and never the devil, 
it was popularly understood to be the spirit of a dead 
person. My difficulty was, as to the irrationality of the 
belief, that under any circumstances, either a foreign 
spirit or the spirit of my deceased neighbor, might come 
and take possession of my body, use my senses, and de- 
prive my soul, nolens volens, of its exclusive right con- 
ferred by my Maker. But this medium's experience puts 
a different face upon the matter. His explanation is, that 
his own spirit is willing to accommodate, and retires with- 
in itself, and becomes unconscious, yielding the use of its 
bodily organs to the stranger for his purposes. And it 
would appear, that on the principle of " honor among 
thieves," Pat steals the faith of his patient, while the me- 
dium pockets his money for medical advice : and this is his 
pay for the spirit's accommodation ! 

If this may be so, then my foregoing argument against 
real possessions, is badly maimed. At all events, I give 
it up for the present. But, at the same time I do not 
believe that Pat was the soul of an Irishman, notwith- 
standing the accuracy of the Irish brogue and provincial- 
isms, running like mad, from a Yankee tongue. If the 
medium spoke the truth, to the belief of which I am in- 
clined by the facts of the interview between us, then this 
is a case of real possession by a personating demon, or, 
as I take it in the N. T. sense, an evil angel. 

It will be seen, that Pat taught me to believe the most 



SIXTH SITTING. 101 

manifest error on the subject of human accountability : 
and plainly denied the doctrines of the Bible. Let that 
be remembered. 

SIXTH SITTING. 

Jan. 5, 1856. Called upon Mrs. C, a medium who 
has been before the public for six years, and has gained 
the reputation of being one of the very best test mediums. 
I asked for the best test, and she also specified that of 
asking questions mentally. I wished to confine myself 
to subjects which, in the nature of the case, spirits ought 
to know, and had prepared a fist. This medium informed 
me that they could certainly answer whatever questions 
related to spiritual matters. 

I then took my seat at the table, wrote down the names 
of my friends who had " left the form," and as before re- 
lated, the spirit declared himself to be that of my ma- 
ternal grandfather. To him I put the following ques- 
tions. 

Q. Are you acquainted with the matter of Judge 
Edmonds's publications on Spiritualism ? A. Yes. (Em- 
phatic.)* 

Q. Do you know as much as Judge Edmonds does ? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Is he sincere ? A. (Indefinite.) 

Q. Is he deluded ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are his books worthless ? A. No. 

Q. Can spiritualism enable me to know the thoughts of 
others ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are not the thoughts of every one known to God 
alone f A. Yes. 



* "Were he one of the spirits that held jubilee over tho publication of 
tho Judge's letter, related in the sequel, no doubt he knows all about it. 



102 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

Q. Are not the pretensions of Spiritualism, false ? A. 
No. 

Q. Is it impossible for Spiritualism to demonstrate im- 
mortality in any way ? A. No. 

Q. Is it impossible to demonstrate it by any appeal to 
the senses ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is it impossible for the spirits of our departed 
friends to communicate with us whom they have left 
behind ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is it impossible for them " to labor for our redemp- 
tion from sin" ? A. Yes. 

Q. Must all redemption come through Christ ? A. 
No. 

Q. Are not the pretensions of Spiritualism as to curing 
the sick, lame, and blind, false ? A. (Indefinite. Don't 
know.) 

Q. Can Spiritualism make man realize what will be his 
condition in another world ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is it not impossible for man to do this, by all that 
Spiritualism can do ? A. (Indefinite. Don't know.) 

Q. Are angels an order of beings distinct from the 
souls of men ? A. Yes. 

Q. Does Spiritualism lead to hypocrisy ? A. Yes. 

Q. Does it prevent hypocrisy ? A. Yes. 

Q. Does it lead to crime ? A. Yes. 

Q. Does it deter from crime ? ' A. No. 

Q. Does it recognize Pantheism ? A. No. 

Q. Does it assert, without proving the immortality of 
the soul ? A. No. 

Q. Does it release man from responsibility to God ? 
A. Yes. 

$. Are the most essential claims made by Judge Ed- 
monds in behalf of Spiritualism false ? A. Yes. 

Q. Can I become a medium ? A. No. 



FALSEHOOD. 103 

Q. In what sphere are you now? A. In the sixth 
sphere. 

Q. How long since you " left the form ?" A. Ninety 
years ago. (My mother has just completed her seventy- 
ninth year !) 

Q. Did you die in England ? A. No. In Scotland ? 
A. No. In Ireland? A. No. In France? A. Yes. 
(Untrue.) 

This communication I wish to put in a connected form 
as follows. " I (the spirit) am acquainted with the mat- 
ter of Judge Edmonds's publications, and I know as much 
as he does. As to his sincerity, I can not say ; but he is 
deluded : yet his books are not worthless. Spiritualism 
can enable you to know the thoughts of others, and yet 
the thoughts of all men are known to God alone. The 
pretensions of Spiritualism are not false. It is not impos- 
sible for it to demonstrate immortality in any way ; 
but it is impossible to demonstrate it to the senses. It is 
also impossible for departed spirits to communicate with 
mortals, neither can they labor for their redemption from 
sin : but all redemption does not come from Christ. I 
do not know as to the pretensions of Spiritualism to effect 
cures. It can make a man realize what will be his condi- 
tion in another world. Nay, I must retract, and say, I 
don't know. Angels are of a different nature from 
men. 

" Spiritualism leads to hypocrisy, and prevents it too ; it 
leads to crime, and also deters from crime. It does not 
recognize Pantheism, nor does it assert without proving 
the soul's immortality. It teaches man's release from re- 
sponsibility to God. The most essential claims of Spirit- 
ualism, as put forth by Judge Edmonds, are false. Tou 
can not become a medium. I am now in the sixth 



104 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

sphere, it being ninety years since I left the form in 
France." 

It will be remembered that the sixth sphere is a far ad- 
vance in progressive happiness and holiness. Yet here is 
a spirit from that high eminence, contradicting himself, 
and uttering the grossest falsehoods ! My grandfather 
was a very intelligent, consistent, and pious man, noted 
for his integrity and usefulness in the region where he 
dwelt. Now if this be his spirit, he has progressed back- 
wards, and the more he has advanced, the more immoral 
has he become ! If he be not the spirit of my grand- 
father, then either he is a bad spirit, in which case Spirit- 
ualism has no test worthy of reliance, and all its boasting 
is turned to its shame ; or, it is no spirit at all ; in which 
case the whole thing is an atrocious imposture. I was 
greatly disappointed as to the affirmations and assurances 
above quoted : yet, having gone deeply into it, I deter- 
mined to " progress." 

SEVENTH SITTING. 

Jan. 1. Called upon Mr. Conklin, a medium before men- 
tioned. He told me he believed all these manifestations 
were owing to hidden laws of nature, and that there was 
nothing supernatural in them at all. I took my seat at 
the table ; the spirit present announced itself by tipping 
it thrice up against the hands of the medium, the wrists 
also being on the table and not behind the edge. Having 
written relationships and names, as before spoken of, the 
spirit of my maternal grandmother declared herself, but 
made a slight mistake in taking the name of Charles. She 
said she was in the fifth sphere, and must therefore have 
gained a large share of knowledge. Moreover, when she 
was " in the form," I was a great favorite of hers ; she 
had much to do with my early impressions and instruc- 



SEVENTH SITTING. 105 

tion, and I believe she was much attached to me, as I 
was to her, and therefore I was delighted that she pre- 
sented herself at this time, for I knew she would not de- 
ceive me. I proceeded with my written questions men- 
tally. 

Q. Can I communicate with spirits of the higher 
spheres? A. Yes. 

Q. Are you able to solve theological questions ? A. 
Yes. 

Q. Is the plenary inspiration of the Bible true f A. 
Yes. 

Q. Is the plenary inspiration of the Bible false f A. 
Yes. 

Q. Is the doctrine of the Trinity false? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the doctrine of the Trinity true f A. No. 

Q. Is the doctrine of the fall of man false? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the doctrine of the fall of man true ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the Devil a real being ? A. No. 

Q. Is the Devil a fabulous being ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is there a hell ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are its torments eternal ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is hell a fiction? A. Yes. 

Q. Is human depravity a fiction ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is human depravity real ? A. No. 

Q. Is Jesus Christ a fabulous being ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is he a real being ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is he God and man in one person ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is his two-fold nature a fiction ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is he the only Mediator between God and man ? 
A. No. 

Q. Are there other mediators equally efficacious ? A. 
Yes. 

$. Is the atonement a safe reliance for salvation ? A. 
Yes. 

5* 



106 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Q. Is the atonement a, false doctrine? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the Holy Spirit a real personal existence ? A. 
Yes. (Emphatic.) 

Q. Is the Holy Spirit a mere influence ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the Holy Spirit a fiction ? A. Yes. (Emphatic.) 

Q. Is Pantheism as good as Spiritualism ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is modern Spiritualism an imposture f A. No. 

Q. Is modern Spiritualism true f A. Yes. 

Q. Are its alleged facts owing to occult laws of nature? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Are they owing to diabolical influence ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are they from God? A. (Doubtful.) 

Q. Is this medium, through whom you communicate, 
deluded? A. Yes. 

Q. Will you raise this table up to the ceiling, and 
gently let it down again ? No answer. 

Q. Can you answer philosophical as well as theological 
questions correctly? A. Yes. 

Q. Is matter eternal ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Pantheism true ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is modern Astronomy false? A. Yes. 

$. Is ancient Astrology true f A. Yes. 

Q. Is the earth a hollow sphere ? A. Yes. 

$. Were heathen oracles and manifestations as true as 
modern Spiritualism ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the doctrine of i mm ortality true f A. Yes. 

Q. Is the doctrine of inimortahty/afee J* A. Yes. 

^. Are you a stranger to Christ ? A. Yes. 

$. Have you seen Christ ? A. Yes. 

$. Do you belong to the highest sphere ? A. Yes. 
(Emphatic.) 

$. Do you belong to the lowest sphere? A. Yes. 

Q. Are you in heaven ? A. Yes. 

$. Are you in hell ? .4. Yes. 



SEVENTH SITTING. 107 

Q. Are angels a distinct order of beings ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are angels and the souls of men the same ? A. 
No. 

Q. Is there a difference between spirit and matter? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Is there identity between spirit and matter ? A. 
Yes. 

Q. Is the spiritual body the essence of matter without 
its properties ? A. Yes. (Hesitatingly.) 

Q. Is the spiritual body a property of matter without 
its essence ? A. No. 

Q. Will you give me a test of your identity by alpha- 
bet? A. No. 

Here the medium wrote " thro'' the mental.'''' 

"When I had finished, I placed my hands under those 
of the medium, but the table would not tip. After re- 
peated trials, when the medium requested the spirit 
orally to tip the table, the thing could not be done. He 
said, " he supposed it was owing to a break in the elec- 
trical current or something of that kind." May be so. 

Now what am I to think of Spiritualism, with its two 
and a half millions of adherents, including " doctors, law- 
yers, clergymen, a Protestant bishop, professors, a reve- 
rend president of a college, foreign ambassadors, and ex- 
members of the national Senate ?" Have they been con- 
verted by such physical manifestations ? Oh ! no. The 
intelligence! The intelligence! cries the Judge. And 
is the intelligence I have presented, such as can so carry 
away the "progressed" of the nineteenth century, as to 
have made the cause of Spiritualism, " in half a decade 
spread among mankind with a celerity which the Christ- 
ian religion had not equalled in a hundred years" ? (Spi- 
ritualism, vol. i., p. 53.) One of the things that struck 
the Judge as remarkable was, " that his mental questions 



108 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

toere answered, when he knew that no person present 
could know ivhat they were." He further says, on the 
same page: " I was at the time a disbeliever ; I had all my 
wits about me, and was on the sharp look-out for decep- 
tion. And all who will thoroughly investigate this mat- 
ter, will, over and over again, be placed in the situation I 
was, when they will be compelled to say ' I know,' in de- 
fiance of all preconceived opinions, and of all the argu- 
ments in the world from those who do not, and can not 
know." (Spiritualism, vol. i., p. 13.) He further says: 
" I beg it to be borne in mind, that I am not so much 
seeking to convince others, as I am aiming to induce them 
also to investigate for themselves." 

This I have done, following the advice of experienced 
spiritualists, holding protracted interviews with media, 
employed by the Society to convince skeptics, and with 
others acknowledged equally as well developed ; and not- 
withstanding the assertion that " the Spiritual theory can 
stand all tests, and is not only adequate to account for 
all the phenomena, but gathers strength from every 
principle assumed in all the other theories : from Mes- 
merism, Od., Back-Brain, and the Devil(!)," (JV. T. Mi- 
racles and Mod. Miracles, p. V,) it certainly appears, the 
test I have used in no case hitherto has been to the cre- 
dit of the spirits. 

In the above communication from one who, when " in 
the form," abhorred a he, I am told that my venerable, 
truth-loving, and devotedly pious ancestor is in the fifth 
sphere, (well progressed, though profligate Tom Paine, her 
cotemporary, is far above her,) and that she can solve 
theological questions. Those which I put, she was fami- 
liar with, from her youth. 

From this competent and reliable teacher, then, I learn, 
that the plenary inspiration of the Bible is both true and 



GROSS co:ntradictions. 109 

false ! The doctrine of the fall of man is both true and false ! 
That the Devil is both a real and a fabulous being ! That 
there is a hell, and that its torments are eternal ; and 
that there is no hell ! That there is no such thing as hu- 
man depravity ! That Christ is both a fictitious and a real 
being ! That Ms two-fold nature is both a truth and a 
falsehood ! That the atonement is a false doctrine, and 
yet a safe reliance for salvation ! That the Holy Spirit is 
a real personal existence, a mere influence, and, emphatic- 
ally, a fiction ! ! That Pantheism is true ! That the facts 
of Spiritualism are owing to occult laws of nature, and to 
diabolical influence, while it is doubtful whether they are 
from God ! That modern Astronomy is false, that ancient 
Astrology is true, and that the earth is a hollow sphere ! 
That the doctrine of immortality is both true and false ! 
That there is both difference and identity between spirit 
and matter ! That the communicating spirit belongs both 
to the highest and lowest spheres ! 

Such is the result of my test. Here there is a score of 
absurdities demonstrating the intelligence 1 Has a good 
spirit ever been known to stultify himself in this way ? 
Could the most ignorant spirit that ever " left the form" 
be so debased in intellect as to utter such things ? Cer- 
tainly a good spirit could not do it, and surely a bad 
spirit, not a fool, would hardly volunteer the easiest 
means of detection, when thus attempting to deceive. 
Does it not, then, look as if these raps of " yes" and " no" 
were the mere hap-hazard movements of the table, produc- 
ed by an animal magnetic current, connecting, essentially 
to the effect, through the brain of the medium, being in an 
abnormal state ? I do not assert this, but if it be so, the 
whole theory vanishes in the smoke of the most mischiev- 
ous flame fanaticism ever kindled. But I must still ply 
my test, for I am after intelligence, clearly disconnected 
with the minds of media. 



110 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 



EIGHTH SITTING. 



On the afternoon of the day last mentioned, I attended 
the Davenport " dark circle," where the spirit of John 
King, who died "in the beginning," performed great 
wonders. Spiritualists have denounced this as a " hum- 
bug," and therefore I shall not dwell. I do not see con- 
sistency in this, because other dark circles are applauded. 
Surely the mere fact of John King's preference to do 
things in the dark, which, according to Spiritualist 
authors, other spirits do in the twilight, can be no suffi- 
cient reason. In that circle one of my thumbs was taken 
hold of by the finger and thumb of another hand, when 
in a position where I could not perceive how it was pos- 
sible for a mortal hand to get at mine in the dark or in 
the light with such precision, without my striking with 
my stick, briskly moving before me, the person to whom 
it belonged. I was, like the Judge, " on a sharp look-out 
for deception," in the dark, to be sure, but having all my 
senses alive for discovery, sight excepted. As soon as I 
felt the grab, at the very moment the other hand left, 
having given me a smart jerk, I was very quick to make 
a dash with my stick, but I only struck through ah*. 
I was told this was a spirit hand. 

In the middle of the room, and between two boys who 
were media, there was a large table, with various 
stringed-instruments upon it, a speaking-trumpet, a tam- 
bourine, and a bell. When the lights were put out, then 
commenced a thumbing upon the strings, and then a 
shaking commotion among the instruments, and finally 
they all left the table, and went round the room at a 
furious rate, all the strings a-twanging, the tambourine 
a-beating, the bell a-ringing, and the tables a-running like 
mad. Suddenly the light was turned on, and all was 



NINTH SITTING. Ill 

still. The media were in their chairs, in the same posi- 
tion, but the tables were found in one corner of the room, 
some few yards from their first position, and the instru- 
ments had fallen, some on the floor, others in the laps of 
the persons present. I also felt a guitar strike my cane, 
elevated and thrust forward to intercept any mortal that 
might pass by me, as in its gyrations round the room, it 
passed close and swiftly, causing a breeze upon my face, 
and saluting my ears with harsh, hoarse discord. The 
raps came, and the alphabet was called for, as in other 
circles. Now there has been nothing done in that 
circle half so wonderful as the airy flight of my name- 
sake, in daylight, at Dr. Gray's, mentioned in the 
previous chapter. If these things are branded by 
Spiritualists as an imposture, because done in the dark, 
what shall be said of far more wonderful things which 
they accept as proof of the power of the spirits produc- 
ing the whole movement, and done in twilight ? Thus 
my mind labored. 

NINTH SITTING. 

Jan. 8. Visited the public circle of Mr. Conklin, for the 
conversion of skeptics. On taking my place at the table, 
by the help of the papers, as aforesaid, my maternal 
grandmother announced herself. She said, at this time, 
she was in the second sphere. 

Q. Are you able to answer my questions ? A. Yes. 
(Mentally asked.) 

Q. Is ultimate annihilation to be the destiny of 
spirits? No answer, but the medium was moved to 
write. He could not, and had to give it up. Subse- 
quently he tried again, and I was informed, the spirit 
" could not control to write," and the pencil was 
dropped. 



112 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Q. Is the doctrine of immortality a fiction? No 
answer. I repeated the same aloud. A. Yes. 

Q. Are all religions alike useless ? Here there was a 
call for the alphabet, by the spirit tapping in rapid 
motion. The following sentence was spelled out, through 
the medium : " In the light of theological teaching, 
immortality is a fiction !" "A pretty good answer," said 
the medium ; but I could not see why my last question 
was neglected, and an explanation offered to the answer 
given to an oral one, evidently wrong, unless his mind 
had something to do with it. Many questions previously 
and mentally put, and receiving answers equally absurd, 
were not explained. To me, this was a very suspicious 
circumstance. But my time was up, and a dozen indi- 
viduals had to be convinced. I asked the medium what 
was the nature of his sensation when writing under the 
influence of spirits. He said, " he felt a nervous tingling 
in his arm, and sometimes through his whole body, as if 
his elbow was against an electric battery." He thinks 
" his arm is not released from the magnetic influence 
during the whole time taken up by the circle." 

I now procured an armful of the best books on the 
subject, such as Spiritualism, by Judge Edmonds and 
Dr. Dexter, in two octavo volumes of 1047 pages; 
Modern Spiritualism, 12mo, 438 pages; Spirit Com- 
munion, octavo, 273 pages; Celestial Telegraph, 
12mo, 2 vols., 410 pages; Spiritualism Scientifically 
Demonstrated, octavo, 462 pages ; Life in the Spheres, 
16mo, 143 pages, and several other volumes. Of pam- 
phlets, octavo, 553 pages ; 12mo, 434 pages ; newspapers, 
&c. Thus I commenced a course of reading, and left not 
a page unperused. In the mean time I embraced every 
opportunity to talk with Spiritualists. 



TENTH SITTING, 113 



TENTH SITTING 



April 20. Visited the medium, Mr. Conklin, and occu- 
pied an hour in the prosecution of my design. When I 
took my seat at the table, after a short time a spirit 
announced itself. I took slips of paper and wrote Father 
upon one, folding it up, Grandmother upon another, and 
Friend upon another. The spirit present rapped, denot- 
ing that he was a friend, and not a relative. I remem- 
bered that I had this morning wished my friend G 

to announce himself, and therefore I wrote his name, 
privately, but before I had finished it the table made a 
tumultuous noise, jostling itself out of place, to assure me 
of the presence of my friend, Rev. G. I. G. The paper 
on wliich I wrote his name I put in my pocket. My first 
questions were speculative, previously prepared, and put 

MENTALLY, aS follows : 

Q. Do you belong to the higher spheres ? A. Yes, 
the sixth. 

Q. Are you able to enlighten me on theological and 
spiritual facts and doctrines ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are the Scriptures unworthy of reliance ? A. Yes. 

Q. Were their reputed authors fictitious characters? 
A. No. 

Q. Were they real characters ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the doctrine of plenary inspiration of the Bible 
true? A. No. 

Q. Is it a false doctrine? A. Yes. 

Q. Are the Scriptures a guide superior to reason? 
A. Yes. ■ 

Q. Are the Scriptures a guide inferior to reason? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Were the manifestations of heathen mythology of 



114 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

the same origin as those of modern Spiritualism? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Were they truly from the spirit world ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are the manifestations of ancient heathen oracles 
and of modern Spiritualism alike referable to Demonolo- 
gy? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Demonology a mass of fiction ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the river Styx a reality ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the river Lethe a reality ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Charon a real personage ? A. Yes. 

Q. "Was the religion of the ancient Egyptians superior 
to that of the Hebrews ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is God the soul of the universe ? A. (tumultuous) 
Yes. 

Q. Does He bear the same relation to it as the human 
soul bears to the human body. A. (tumultuous) Yes. 

Q. Has God a body like to that of man. A. Yes. 

Q. Is He the essence of matter ? A. (tumultuous) 
Yes. 

Q. Is the individuality of God a fiction ? A. (tumul- 
tuous) Yes. 

Q. Is the tuiity of God a fiction ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is plurality in God a fiction ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the Trinity a fundamental error £ A. Yes. 

$. Is the Trinity a fundamental ft*w^ J> A. Yes. 

§. Is Christ an unreal being ? vl. Yes. 

Q. Is Christ a real being ? .4. Yes. 

Q. Is Christ God and man united ? ^4. Yes. 

Q. Is Christ's nature truly taught in the Scriptures ? 
A. No. 

§. Do you believe in the decrees of God ? A. Yes. 

$. Are the decrees of God fictitious ? A. Yes. 

$. Is the Bible account of creation false f A. Yes. 

Q. Is the Bible account of creation true ? A. Yes. 



TENTH SITTING. 115 

Q. Is the fall of angels a fiction f A. Yes. 

Q. Is the fall of angels a fact? A. Yes. 

Q. Do angels and men partake of the same nature ? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Is there a natural, difference between angels and 
men in the next world ? A. No. 

Q. Was man made a sinful being ? A. Yes. 

Q. Was he made a sinless being ? A. Yes. 

$. Is the fall of man a fiction ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is man & perfect being? A. Yes. 

Q. Is God the author of sin ? ^.. Yes. 

Q. Is He a malevolent being ? -4. Yes. 

Q. Is man independent of God ? ^4. Yes. 

<2- Is man irresponsible for his conduct ? A. Yes. 

$. Is human guilt a fiction f A. Yes. 

Q. Is it a reality ? vl. Yes. 

Q. Is Spiritualism unable to account for it ? A. Yes. 

$. Does the Bible sufficiently account for it ? A. 
Don't know. 

§. Is conscience an original faculty of the mind? 
A. Yes. 

Q. May it be stretched and twisted into erroneous- 
ness? A. Yes. 

Q. Is conscience a thing of education ? A. Yes. 

Q. Does every man make his own conscience? A. 
Yes. 

Q. Is religion a vain thing ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is virtue of the same moral quality as vice ? 
A. Yes. 

(). Is vice of the same moral quality as virtue? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Is God indifferent to moral character ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is God regardless of sin ? -4. Don't know. 

Q, Will God punish sin in hell? A. Yes. 



116 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Q. Is there a hell ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is hell a fiction ? A. Yes. 

Q. Will hell endure for ever ? A Yes. 

#. Have the wicked the best chance for heaven ? A. 
Yes. 

Q. Is prayer useless ? A. Yes. 

(>. Is Pantheism true ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Pantheism false? A. Yes. 

$. Is Polytheism tfrwe l A. Yes. 

$. Is Polytheism false f A. No. 

Q. Is Atheism Zrwe f A. Yes. 

#. Is Atheism false? A. Yes. 

(). Is the doctrine of annihilation &*we f A. Yes. 

$. Is the doctrine of immortality false ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is there absolute identity between matter and spirit ? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Is there absolute distinction between matter and 
spirit ? A. Yes. 

$. Is the faith of Spiritualism the best ? A. Yes. 

$. Is Universalism a delusion ? -4. Yes. 

Q. Is Universalism the sum of all truth ? A. Yes. 

$. Is the " Age of Reason" as good a guide as the 
Bible ? A. Yes. 

(). Is the " Koran" as good as either ? A. Yes. 

Q. " What must I do to be saved ?" — is that a vain 
question ? JL Yes. 

Q. Is it an important question ? -4. Yes. 

$. Is it properly answered in the Bible ? A. No. 

Q. Are spirits unable to impart any new truth ? A. 
Yes. 

$. Are they unable to add any thing to the knowledge 
or comfort of mankind ? A. Yes. 

Q. Will Spiritualism lead all its adherents into error ? 
A. Yes. 



TENTH SITTING. 117 

Q. Are its manifestations from an evil source? A. 
Yes. 

Q. Are its advocates deluded ? A. (tumultuous) 
Yes. 

Q. "Will it procure for its own votaries expulsion from 
God? A. (tumultuous) Yes. 

Q. Do spirits deceive through the media? A. Yes. 

Q. Is confidence in any and every communication, 
therefore, great folly ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are all communications fallacious ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are any real ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the Devil a real being ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is not modern Spiritualism a device of the Devil ? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Do you deny that Jesus Christ has come in the 
flesh ? A. Yes. 

$. Do you admit that he has come in the flesh ? A. 
Yes. 

Q. "Will those who die impenitent for ever progress in 
sin and consequent suffering ? A. Yes. 

Now here is a mass of contradiction and falsehood 
from a spirit of the sixth sphere, which at once shows an 
absence of intelligence / for it is alike beneath the cun- 
ning of a spirit designing to deceive, and irreconcilable 
with the good intention of a pure spirit. It is also in- 
compatible with the supposition of clairvoyance in the 
mind of the medium, for that would anticipate and correct 
discrepancies. If, then, neither a good nor a bad spirit, 
nor clairvoyance, can consistently be accredited with this 
medley, the conclusion seems almost inevitable, that 
these raps are made hap-hazard by some inexplicable 
agency, which, whatever it may be, is destitute of intelli- 
gence. But this is again contradicted by the ready re- 
sponse to every question mentally put, just as soon as it 



118 



A THKEE-EOLD TEST. 



is formed. This seems to favor the idea, that they come 
from mischievous spirits. To secure one's self against im- 
position, I learned from the Celestial Telegraph that it is 
necessary to solemnly adjure the spirit communicating — a 
precaution which I took, but in vain. 

I now proceeded to test the spirit as to his identity, 
and put the following questions of fact, mentally, as be- 
fore. 

Q. Is your real name G. I. G. ? A. Yes. 

Q. Was your profession on earth that of a mechanic ? 
A. No. 

Q. A lawyer? A. No. Here I secretly wrote his 
name in full, at which there was a strong rapping. 

Q. A minister ? A. Yes. 

Q. How long since you died? A. Five years, but 
corrected himself, saying he could not calculate time. 

Q. How many children have you ? A. Six. This was 
the number when he died. 

Q. Did you die in New-York ? A. No. 

Q. Did you die in S e ? A. Yes. 

Q. At your own house ? A. No. 

Q. At your brother's house ? A. Yes. 

Q. Where is your family — at L. ? A. No. 

Q. In New-York ? A. No. 

Q. At. N n ? A. Yes. All these were rightly an- 
swered. 

Q. Will you write me a communication by the hand 
of the medium ? (Orally.) Immediately his hand seized 
a pencil, and attempted to write. There was much appa- 
rent spasmodic action, but he could not get on. Finally 
he succeeded in putting down the following : 

" Not now — I have not much writing power. 

"G. I. G.» 



TENTH SITTING. 119 

He signed the true initials, not one of which the medi- 
um had seen or heard from me, and there was no one 
else in the room ! There were other answers to questions 
of fact I may not record, and all truly answered. This 
was confounding. My friend was one of the most truth- 
ful, conscientious men I ever knew ; in the first set of 
questions, there is the most glaring absurdity through- 
out. In the second, uniform truth, over his own initials ! 
I proceeded, (mentally :) 

Q. Did you preach the truth when on earth? A. 
No. 

Q. Am I a minister ? A. Yes. 

Q. Do I preach the truth ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the substance of my preaching the same as yours 
was ? A. Yes. 

Q. Can't you write your full name by the hand of the 
medium? A. No. 

Q. Now I demand, in the name of God, are you truly 
such as you represent ? A. Yes. 

Q. I solemnly command you to answer me, in the name 
of God, have you told me lies ? are your communications 
deceptive f A. Yes ! ! 

I then put my hand under one of the medium's hands, 
and felt a tremulous motion that seemed to run up his 
arm. I requested the spirit to raise the table with my 
hand under his, but he could not do it. The medium re- 
quested the spirit to raise it, but in vain. I withdrew 
my hand, and the spirit was again requested to raise it, 
but he was off. 

Now the whole of this spirit-interview can have no 
other effect than to confound the mind. This is what an 
evil demon would naturally aim to do. My friend would 
never have thus practised upon me, when in the flesh. 
If he can now do it, he must have 



120 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

but this is contrary to Spiritualism. If he can not do it, 
then a personating evil demon has endeavored to con- 
found me ; and there is not a Spiritualist in the world, 
that has any reliable evidence that he is not grossly de- 
ceived ; because not a man of them can boast of a better 
test of identity than the last set of questions, above given, 
in relation to personal concerns, together with the " signa- 
ture." 

What, then, is the conclusion ? This : No Spiritual- 
ist can prove the identity of the spirits communicating. 
JSTo Spiritualist can prove that he is not grossly de- 
ceived. JVb Spiritualist can successfully deny that per- 
sonating demons are playing upon his credulity ', and are 
leading him, by false teachings and plausible deceptions, 
into ruinous error. And as they are fond of challenging, 
I challenge one and all of them to show by adequate evi- 
dence that they are not deceived by evil spirits personat- 
ing good ones, beyond their powers of detection. 

This is the very way imposition was carried on by the 
old heathen manifestations. Thus Porphyry writes to 
the Egyptian Priest Anebo : " There are some who sup- 
pose that there is a certain obedient genus of demons 
which is naturally fraudulent, omniform, and various, and 
which assumes the appearance of gods and demons, and 
the souls of the deceased/ and that through these, every 
thing which appears to be either good or evil is effected?'' 
(Taylor's Jamblichus.) 

" By the contrary kind of demons all prestigious effects 
are produced. They constantly cause apparitions and 
spectral appearances, skillful, by deceptions which excite 
amazement, to impose upon men. It is their very 
nature to lie, because they wish to be considered gods, 
and the presiding power among them to be taken for the 
supreme god." (Porph. apud Jfhcseb.)* 

*Apocatastnsis, p. 113. 



PERSONATING DEMONS. 121 

The same learned author quotes from lamblichus, De 
Abdltis Merum Gausis, as follows, p. 114: "Evil spirits, 
after a fantastic and fallacious method, simulate the 
presence of the gods and good demons, and therefore 
command the worshipper to be just, in order that they 
themselves may seem to be good, like the gods." 

The same representation is made in the " Mysteries" : 
"An evil demon requires that his worshipper shotdd be just, 
because he assumes the appearance of one belonging to the 
divine genus ; but he is subservient to what is unjust, be- 
cause he is depraved. That which is hostile to itself, 
which is discordant, and never the same, is the peculiari- 
ty, in the most eminent degree, of demoniacal dissension, 
about which it is not at all wonderful that things of an 
opposing nature should subsist." 

Now, as the old heathenish wonders are accepted by 
our /Spiritualists, as emanations from the same source 
with their own, we are entitled to press them for the evi- 
dence that evil spirits can not and do not perform every 
wonder they record. If, according to an old author, 
evil spirits, "gliding secretly into the bodies of men, 
simulate diseases, terrify the mind, distort the limbs," 
why can not they do the same thing now, and then heal 
by such prescriptions as are put up by spirit direction, and 
sold at the office of the Spiritual Telegraph, in order to 
gain the confidence of men ? I assert that the whole sys- 
tem is nothing more nor less than heathenism revived, 
and challenge any one that will try it to show the con- 
trary. 

But it may be said, if evil spirits communicate, why 
not the good ? Do we not read, that the angels are 
" ministering spirits, sent to minister to them that are the 
heirs of salvation" ? Our answer is ready : They are not 
sent to " communicate a new revelation." They are said 



122 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

to be restricted in their services to certain persons. 
Angels are not the sonls of men. The whole representa- 
tion of Scripture is opposed to this idea ; hut it is not pre- 
tended that other than the souls of men make our mod- 
ern manifestations ; therefore this quotation is not in point. 
Nor are these the spirits of our departed friends, because 
the souls of our friends who love us would not deceive us, 
as do the demons in question, who personate them ; be- 
cause the jejune talk of these demons is far below the 
progressed state of intellectual development our friends 
attained before they left this world ; because all revealing 
communications between heaven and earth, ceased with 
the culminating revelation of Christ, which closes the New 
Testament ; because demons, who in all ages have aped 
the oracles of God, are likely to palm themselves off now 
for " ministering spirits ;" and that they do so in this in- 
stance, is evident by the use they make of appeals to the 
Bible, only to destroy the authority of the Bible, and 
place their own pretended revelations upon a par with it, 
if not superior to it, for the purpose of dictating the faith 
of mankind ; and because these demons deny the exist- 
ence of the Devil and his angels, whose personal being 
and agency in the affairs of this world Christ most dis- 
tinctly taught ; and this is just what evil spirits might be 
expected to do. 

In aU my communications, it will be seen, that if they 
come from any intellect at all, personating demons have 
lied, and endeavored to confound me. In all communica- 
tions I have read, which are not a few, I see nothing thai 
may not consistently proceed from the same source. In 
the use of the mental test, by putting each question h? 
opposite forms, requiring opposite answers, on each occa- 
sion I have received a tissue of falsehood. 

Now I do not think that the various and bewildering 



THE POWER OP THE DELUSION. 123 

phenomena that have occurred and are occurring on both 
sides of the Atlantic, and which have been the means of 
converting not only many thousands hut a few millions to 
this cause, can be explained but by superhuman agency ; 
for unquestionably there is an intelligence manifested in 
thousands of cases, which shows that intellect of some 
order is associated with it. Therefore I think my 
hypothesis is not invalidated by these discrepancies, which 
only go to show that, however cunning these demons are, 
they are not able utterly to deceive those who attack 
them by a test they can not withstand, so trying to their 
nature, for " it is their nature to lie." 

It will also be seen, that in my progress, I followed the 
advice of eminent leaders, whose absolute assurances 
of success in every case of sincere investigation, left no 
doubt of their honesty. I still believe they are honest, 
but I also believe they are thoroughly deceived. The 
facts they present are true facts, but the source to 
which I attribute them, they assume does not exist. 
Herein consists the power of their delusion. They allow 
there are evil spirits that do deceive, because they can 
not help it; but then these are held to be only the 
xmprogressed, who will, in due time, become good spirits. 
This is a part of their teaching, and, we add, an important 
part of the deception, designed to gain credit to those 
whom Spiritualists think they have proved to be good 
spirits, commissioned to usher in a" new dispensation." 
This, certainly, is not inconsistent with " the depths of 
Satan," and we are exhorted " not to be ignorant of his 
devices." 

In confirmation of my position, I quote from the 
" divine Iamblichus de Mysteriis" : " Now, therefore, it 
is acknowledged that the tribe of evil demons has a very 
extended power hi generation, in human affairs, and in such 



124 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

things as subsist about the earth. Hence, why is it won- 
derful that a tribe of this kind should effect such works 
as these, (physical power ?) for every man is not able to 
distinguish a good from an evil demon, or by what pecu- 
liarities the one is separate from the other. Hence, those 
who are not able to perceive the difference betioeen the two, 
absurdly reason concerning the cause of them, and refer 
this cause to genera superior to nature and the demoniacal 
order." 

Truly, this eminent Coelosyrian philosopher, Spiritualist, 
and heathen divine, who flourished in the beginning of the 
fourth century, might be a serviceable instructor to our 
modern Spiritualists, who flourish amazingly in the nine- 
teenth ; and they may not take it amiss if we commend 
his works to their careful study. Alas, poor men ! one 
of old, whom they would have to be a seeing medium, has 
hit them exactly: "When they promise us liberty, they 
themselves are the servants of corruption ; for of whom a 
man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bond- 
ags." 2 Pet. 2 : 19. 

ELEVENTH SITTING. 

April 24. I went with my wife to have an interview 
with Mrs. Brown, one of the Fox family. We were much 
pleased with her open, frank manner. We believe her to 
be sincere. She is intelligent, and in our opinion without 
guile. Many aspersions have been cast upon the ladies 
of this family, who are the media with whom the 
"Rochester knockings" commenced, which were very 
ungenerous and very unjust. We are unknown to Mrs. 
Brown. 

My wife, who was a thorough skeptic as to the phe- 
nomena, soon became confounded. The raps began slow- 
ly and distinctly, when she was talking with Mrs. B. 



ELEAOSNTII SITTING. 125 

respecting another subject unexpectedly brought up. 
This was about a branch of her family of the same unusual 
name with my father-in-law. Mrs. B. was evidently so much 
interested that she paid no attention to them ; for the 
elbow of her left arm was upon the table, the hand sup- 
porting her head, while the right hand was carelessly 
playing with a pencil upon her lap. This was her position 
when the raps arrested my wife's attention, and the con- 
versation was turned. They came in abundance, upon 
the floor. My wife suggested that it was quite possible 
they might be made in the room below. Mrs. B. assent- 
ed that such might be the case ; and to remove suspicion, 
they both went to the piano, and behold they came, 
clear and distmct, as if from within the instrument. 
Mrs. B. said she preferred to attempt to convince the 
most confirmed skeptic, provided such an one was rea- 
sonable and sincere. She then opened the parlor door, 
and stood upon one side of it, as we stood at the edge, 
looking athwart both surfaces ; and placing the tip of one 
finger upon it, the raps, loud and strong, were made upon 
the door as I slowly swung it on its hinges. There 
could be no mistake. She took hold of my wife's hand, 
directing her to put the other on the door, and strong 
raps came near my wife's hand, while I was looking on 
the opposite surface. I held my ear upon the frame of 
the door, and requested that raps might be made oppo- 
site to it, whereupon the raps left the pannel, and 
reported on the frame, exactly where I wished. 

We then resumed our seats at the table, the medium 
sitting with her arms folded and resting on the edge ; 
the raps continued in a hasty succession. We were per- 
fectly sure they were not made by her, or by any visible 
agency. The medium said the spirits were impatient to 
communicate, and without altering her position, she 
asked this question : 



126 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Q. Are you relatives or friends of the gentleman pre- 
sent? A. No. 

Q. Do you belong to the lady present ? A. Yes. 
(Strong raps.) 

When my wife took the pencil to write, a tumultuous 
rapping commenced, which the medium said was indica- 
tive of their joy. She put down severdl fictitious names, 
and among them the names of her father and mother, 
who are both dead. She moved the pencil from one to 
another, and to each of the moves came the raps for 
" No," except two, and these were to the names of her 
father and mother. When she pointed to that of her 
mother, there was tumultuous rapping, and a call by the 
spirit for the alphabet. 

The medium commenced at a, and went on ; and when- 
ever a knock came on the table, she put down the letter 
rapped at, and began again, and so on, until the following 
sentence was speUed out : 

" Do not hesitate, my dear child, to question your 
spirit friends ; we aU live in heaven, and watch over you." 

This was not calmly to be borne by an excitable person 
already under strong excitement. The associations 
awakened, the unaccountable raps, and the sentiment 
expressed, caused the tears to fall fast. The very 
moment this took place, a shower of raps, all around her, 
upon the floor followed. The medium said this was an 
expression of joy and sympathy the spirits felt at commu- 
nicating, and her own tears came to testify to her sincer- 
ity of belief. There was poetry enough here surely, and 
I am minute, in order to give the reader a vivid idea of 
the fascination that surrounds those who fairly get into 
tliis subject. The appeal is to the tenderest sensibilities 
of the heart. 

Both the names of my wife's father were very uncom- 



ELEVENTH SITTING. 127 

mon, yet both were accurately picked out, and all ques- 
tions of fact she asked, such as where her mother died, 
were correctly answered, and at a call of the alphabet it 
was spelt out as above : " We are all here." And again : 
" I am happy, dear child, to speak with you ; this is our 
way of telegraphing." A rap for each letter was appa- 
rently made in the centre of a large round table, while 
the hand of the medium was engaged near the edge, tak- 
ing them down. 

To the question, "Are you happy?" another shower 
of raps came upon the floor around the chair my wife 
occupied, and on the table. 

Q. In what sphere are you ? A. Six raps. 

Having tried questions of fact to our satisfaction, I 
meant to try on questions of speculation. 

I then called for a spirit to communicate with me. One 
came, and from many names, picked out the name of my 
father. The following questions I had previously pre- 
pared, and they were put mentally. 

Q. Will Spiritualism uproot all Church organizations ? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Will Fourierism and Free Love prevail over all 
existing social arrangements ? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the success of this movement upon your part, de- 
pendent upon the overthrow of the Bible ? A. Yes. 
(Strong raps.) 

Q. Can you make me absolutely certain that you are 
good and not evil spirits ? A. Yes. 

Q. Will you do it now ? A. No. 

Q. Will you now give me some powerful physical man- 
ifestation? A. Yes and No, denoting willingness but 
inability. 

Q. Are you unable to make any one certain that they 
are good spirits who now communicate ? A, Yes. 



128 A THKEE-EOLD TEST. 

Q. Are you the, familiar spirit of the medium, personat- 
ing my father? In the name of your Creator, do not de- 
ceive me. A. Yes. 

When we arose to leave, having seen Mr. Capron's 
book upon the table, from which in our first chapter there 
is a quotation about spirits pulling the bed-clothes from 
Mr. Brown, I inquired whether that story were true 
respecting her husband. Before she had time to answer, 
Mr. Brown came to speak for himself, whose peculiar rap- 
ping, made on the table lohen no one was near it, she de- 
tected. He said : Yes. 

The reader will perceive, here is another instance of 
confounding the mind. My wife now ceases to wonder 
at the spread of this cause. Had she not been previously 
prepared by a knowledge of the facts given in this volume, 
she thinks it probable, she might have been greatly be- 
wildered. Here is, beyond all question, intelligence spelled 
out, intelligence indicated, past facts truly given ; but an 
awful confounding of the mind in the answers to my 
mental questions. Difficulties thicken, and the more 
thorough the effort to get to the bottom of this amazing 
subject, the more is the mind confounded. This appears 
to be a settled fact, and one which tells powerfully against 
the whole matter. 

TWELFTH SITTING. 

July 1 1 . Visited Mrs. G. This lady, of prepossessing 
manners and fine address, is the medium through whom 
Dr. Hare thinks he obtained important revelations. He 
invented the machine, represented below, to test the fact 
of spirit communication. 

The dial face, as in figure 1, is presented to the investi- 
gator, on which the index moves round by the action of 
the rod R. as in figure 2, to spell out the intelligence. The 



TWELFTH SITTING. 129 

reverse of the dial of this machine, is blank to the me- 
dium, who sits behind the table on which it is placed, and 
whose hand rests on the broad surface of the lever, on 
the left of the fulcrum L F, as seen in the cut. His de- 
scription is as follows : 




" The rod R slides in staples, so as to be made to extend farther or nearer from 
the fulcrum. The legs on -which the disk is supported, which are a part of the 
casing, terminate below in a socket which fits upon a plug screwed into the base- 
board ; upon this plug it may be fastened by the set screw (S). By sliding the rod 
(R) inward, the disk may be turned half round upon the plug, so as to place the 
lettered surface out of the sight of the medium, whose power to influence the com- 
munications is thus nullified. This is one mode of attaining test conditions; in 
other words, those conditions which make it impossible that the co mm unications 
received should be due to any mortal. 

As I saw the machine, it was constructed much more 

favorably for the medium. The fulcrum is at the end of 

the lever next the medium, and not as represented in the 

ut ; consequently her hand covers it, instead of being be- 

6* 



130 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

hind. In the latter case, involuntary pressure could have 
no effect upon the index ; in the former, it could ; and as 
there is no surety against this, the " unmistakable tests,'' 
advertised on her card, are liable to great mistakes ; and, 
to make the matter worse, the disk was not placed in a 
vertical position, but in that of an inclined plane, over the 
top of which she could look. Thus placed, it is easy to 
see, that in the hand of an expert, things very surprising 
to some minds, might transpire without the agency of any 
spirit out of " the form." Now we do not say, that such 
is the case, but easily might be ; hence we were greatly 
disappointed in finding the machine so altered that, to us, 
it could be no satisfactory test. If it operated in its ori- 
ginal form, as Dr. H. declares, we can not see why it 
should now be altered, for such alteration is at the expense 
of the " unmistakable test." And therefore it appears 
that Dr. H. has earned the ridicule of mankind, if by this 
means alone he would persuade us, that the contents of his 
book came from the spirit world in any other than the or- 
dinary way in which pernicious principles are disseminated. 

I concluded, however, to try it. The medium placed 
her hand upon the lever of the machine, and after some 
time, the index began to revolve, skipping from letter to 
letter, but remaining long enough on each, until I could 
write it ; and whenever I made a mistake, it would cor- 
rect me by whirling around, and dwelling upon the right 
one. This operation was promising, and after a little the 
following was spelt out : 

" My son, I am here !" 

Q. Are you my father ? A. No. 

Q. Will you give me your name ? A. (spelled) "Anna 
Williams !" 

Having said that such was not my mother's name, it 
was then spelled : " I will speak for your mother." My 



TWELFTH SITTING. 131 

mother is living, and able to speak for herself; but I was 
disposed to let the spirit go on. 

Q. Have you a communication for me ? A. Yes, (spel- 
led :) " My son, you are very sincere, but too skeptical 
for the spirits to approach. I do not wish you to become 
a convert to any thing without proper thought and in- 
vestigation. Anna, your mother." 

Now it appears to me, that the medium practised this 
deception, or some personating spirit did it ; but the at- 
tempt was too stupid for a good spirit to be guilty of, for the 
veriest fool could detect it. In the former case, if the 
medium would practise upon me, she would practise upon 
Dr. Hare ; in the latter, personating spirits may have 
duped him by his own contrivance. 

But the medium says that the machine, as I saw it, is 
as good for unmistakable tests as the one in the cut, for 
such tests are promised on her card. Then the matter 
stands thus : The medium being truthful, the aforesaid 
attempted deception proves that the Doctor may have 
been the more grossly imposed upon by evil spirits, in the 
use of his own contrivance ; or, the medium being untruth- 
ful, it proves that he is victimized ; therefore whether she 
be truthful or otherwise, his pretensions are follies of 
which he ought not to have been guilty, and his book is 
worthless for the purpose for which he intended it, and, 
as we hope to show, worse than worthless in itself. 

Should he say that the machhie through which I re- 
ceived the aforesaid communication, is not a test machine, 
he would impeach his own medium, through whom he re- 
ceived the contents of his book, for she promises by it 
" unmistakable tests," using his name on her card. Should 
he say, it is a test machine, then he impeaches himself, 
and has planned the method of his own deception ; for by 
it, " Anna Williams," clearly a personating spirit, at- 



132 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

tempted to impose upon me ; and therefore his " honored 
father," whose identity he did not test at all, I have a 
right to say, was a personating demon, whose attempt 
upon him admirably succeeded. So that whether this be 
a test machine or not, Dr. Hare is ridiculously imposed 
upon, and is entitled to "roars of laughter." 

But perhaps it will be said the main object of the ma- 
chine was to prove the fact of actual spirit agency, with- 
out reference to its character ; but this only makes the 
matter worse; for while it is bad enough to be the 
laughing-stock of men, it is much worse to become " the 
sport of devils." When he commenced operations with 
his machine, he put the question, p. 40 : " "Will the spirit 
do us the favor to give the initials of his name ? The 
letters R. H. were successively brought under the index." 
With ludicrous pathos the Doctor exclaims, " My honored 
father !" and without a single test as to his identity, he 
goes away a confirmed Spiritualist ! 

It is but just to say, that the medium appeared to be very 
innocent of any such trickery, and I went on to interro- 
gate the spirit mentally from my fist of speculative ques- 
tions, previously answered through Mr. C, to which the 
reader is referred. The answers received were not the 
same, but were equally absurd and contradictory. This, 
of course ; but I mention it just to show there is as much 
reliance to be placed on one spirit as on another. This 
one is clearly proved, if a spirit, to be a personating, de- 
ceptive spirit ; but as I obtained much the same result as 
in the interview through Mr. C, the character of the for- 
mer one is thus shown to be equally bad. Some of the 
answers, however, were expounded through the machine, 
and, assuming the honesty of the medium, this was very 
remarkable for the manifestation of intelligence. Some 
of these expositions are subjoined : 



TWELFTH SITTING. 133 

Q. Is God the essence of matter ? A. Yes, (spelled,) 
lie is the spirit and life of all matter. 

Q. Is the Trinity a fundamental error? A. Yes, (spell- 
ed,) as understood by orthodox Christians. 

Q. Is conscience a thing of education ? A. No. (Spell- 
ed.) The savage has the same monition. It is an intui- 
tive faculty. Intuition is superior to reason. It is a pure- 
ly spiritual faculty. 

Q. Will God punish sin in hell ? A. No. (Spelled.) 
The punishment follows as a matter of violated law, not 
as a punishment from God, and it is always connected 
with such violation. 

Q. Is prayer useless ? A. Yes. (Spelled.) Useless as 
affecting God's purposes ; useful as producing harmony 
in the creature. 

Q. Is the Devil a real being? A. No. (Emphatic) 
(Spelled.) Only as he exists in the brain of man. 

Q. You are a perfect infidel? A. (Spelled:) No, what 
am I infidel to ? Not so. I can only be infidel to what 
1 profess to believe. 

Q. Do you deny that Jesus Christ has come in the 
flesh?* A. Yes. 

Q. "Will you say that he has come in the flesh ? A. 
No. 

From the nature of some questions propounded, the 
medium declared me an im.pressional medium. 

At a subsequent interview, in company with a friend, 
who had a mind to try the virtue of the " Spiritoscope," 
unsatisfactory results convinced him that the Doctor had 
been befooled. He has endeavored, by means of a mechan- 
ical contrivance, to bring the evidence of spirits to prove 

* See 1 John 4:3. 



134 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

the absurdity of the Bible ; but has only succeeded in 
establishing his own. 

THIRTEENTH SITTING. 

At another interview, I wished the disk of the machine 
to be placed in a vertical position, so as to prevent the 
medium from seeing the letters. This was done, and my 
reason asked. I told her perhaps she was a clairvoyant, 
and my object was to guard against that as much as pos- 
sible. She said that no precaution of that kmd could 
make any difference, where that power was exerted ; but 
she declared that to her knowledge she was not a clair- 
voyant.* I then told her, that I had a list of test ques- 
tions to be all mentally put ; but to my disappointment 
no spirit would try it. 

The medium declares herself sure that I am an impres- 
sional medium, and have no need of seeking the aid of 
others. This will show that I have some creditable qual- 
ifications and guidance in the investigation I am now 
making ; and that hi the estimation of Spiritualists, the 
result of my investigations really has as much claim upon 
their attention and acceptance, as that of any medium that 
makes them pay well for impressions. 

FOURTEENTH SITTING. 

On the afternoon of the same day, I called upon a 
psychometric, clairvoyant, impressional medium, whose 
advertisement in the Daily Times, among the "Religious 



* Some time afterwards I happened to see the Sjriritual Telegraph of 
July 26, and the advertisement of this lady is there in these words. 
"Healing, Clairvoyant, Psychometric, Writing and Test Medium." This 
surprised me, but I suppose there is some mistake in the card— I am 
sure there is none in my statement. 



FOURTEENTH SITTING. 135 

Notices," had attracted my attention. I copy it as a 
sample of such weekly notices, to show that Spiritualism 
obtrudes itself upon the public, not in the character of a 
novel subject for philosophical investigation, not as the 
development of a new class of phenomena for the scrutiny 
of science, but as a religion, or as the true religion, hav- 
ing superior claims upon the attention of mankind ; and 
as the avowed enemy of "popular Christianity." 

EJp SPIRITUALISM.— Rev. Uriah Clark and Lady, and Dr. A. 
G. Fellows, the eminent test medium of Albion, will address the spi- 
ritual meeting at Lamartine Hall, corner 8th avenue and 29th street, 
Sunday, 2£ P. M., Conference, 10^ A. M., and Circle for Spiritualists, 
U P. M. 

Having informed this eminent test medium, that I came 
for tests, by which to try the claims of Spiritualism, he 
put himself into a recumbent attitude, with his hand upon 
his brow, and in about five minutes, his mind (as the 
theory is) became en rapport with the spirit world. He 
described a spirit near me, in a blue bask and wine- 
colored skirt, having a locket with two daguerreotypes in 
it ; but she soon left. Then arose upon the distant hori- 
zon of his spiritual vision, a tall, thin, lantern-jawed man, 
with a big head. He came nearer and nearer, and I be- 
gan to fear I was to have another fizzling interview, like 
the first. He, too, disappeared. After a long pause the 
medium drew up to me, and, taking my hand, requested 
me to ask three mental questions only, concentrating my 
mind strongly upon them. I did so. 

Q. Is the spirit of my father present? A. No, sir, 
(shaking my hand violently.) 

Q. Is the Bible a perfectly true revelation ? A. Yes, 
sir, true, emphatically so. (Great shakes.) 

Q. Is this medium a deluded man ? A. Yes, sir, no 
doubt of it, that's clear, sir. (Another violent shake.) 



136 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

" ~Now sir," he continued, " you niay ask two questions 
more in the same way." 

Q. Are you a personating demon ? (meaning the 
spirit impressing him.) A. Yes, sir, that's it exactly, 
(slapping me smartly on the shoulder.) 

Q. Are you one of the Devil's angels ? A. Yes, sir ; 
yes, sir ; yes, sir. Here he "became much excited. I in- 
quired if I might ask another question. Permission was 
given. 

Q. Is Spiritualism a delusion ? A. No, sir. The an- 
swer is no, in that form. Getting permission to vary it, 
I pi-oceeded. 

Q. Is Spiritualism a vile delusion ? A. Yes sir, true ; 
in that form it is true. " One more question, if you please," 
said I. 

Q. Shall I proceed to expose it ? A. Yes, sir, (tre- 
mendous shaking,) certainly ; that's it. Yes, sir, by all 
means. 

Having altered my position in the room, the spirit then 
proceeded to give a psych ometrical reading of my charac- 
ter, which was taken down by Dr. IT. C, who had told 
me he had been a ITniversalist minister, but was not en- 
titled to the title of Dr., though it is so published on the 
card of these gentlemen ; but this, perhaps, is too small 
to mention, were it not that it awakens suspicion as to 
the rest of the titles which dignify many media. 

The unfolding of my mental constitution by the spirit, 
thus proceeded : 

" This gentleman is of the sanguine bilious tempera- 
ment, much over-taxed and exhausted. Number is large 
and active — he can calculate rapidly ; is very decisive in 
character ; he has large, active executive powers ; spends 
some sleepless nights. The poetic, ideal, and beautiful, 
arc prominent in his mind. He has an inventive genius, 



FOUKTEEXTII SITTING. 137 

and is a good practical schemer. He reasons from causal- 
ity. He can write poetry. He has published to some 
extent. He is indefatigable in what he undertakes. This 
gentleman has musical appreciation keen. He is naturally 
a speaker. He sees clearly, but is not always able to 
express himself, because he finds language inadequate to 
give Ms precise form of thought. He has deep mathe- 
matical powers. He is not animal, but spiritual, sensitive 
and affectionate. When he dreams, he dreams beauti- 
fully and wildly. He is not suspicious, but open, yet cau- 
tious ; not credulous, but must have facts, science, philo- 
sophy, as a basis. This gentleman, as a speaker, prefers 
religion — religious truth. Rational religion, intricate 
moral truths, are subjects of predominant interest in 
your mind. He would have been successful as a demon- 
strator of anatomy, or in analysing any thing and every 
thing. Your mediumship* is of the impressional nature. 
Your spiritual nature is keenly susceptible to spiritual in- 
fluences, and frequently your thoughts, feelings, and emo- 
tions are so intuitive, that you may become almost con- 
scious of the fact that spirit intelligences are present." 
Have you any questions to ask ?" 

Q. What is the precise connecting link between soul 
and body? A. (This was long, rambling, and of course 
unsatisfactory ; but the drift of it was, that spirit is an 
elimination of matter.) 

Q. As the spinal marroAV is a continuation of the mat- 
ter of the brain, can you say that the intelligence is con- 
fined to the brain ? A. ISTo, it is not ; the whole of the 
spinal column is also occupied by the mind. 

As my time was up, I had to leave without proceeding 
to certain other interesting consequential physiological 

* The theory is, that all men are media, though few are developed. 



138 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

questions. My name was asked ; but as I did not care to 
be known just then, I gave my middle name only. I may 
as well here say, that the above was none of your vulgar 
phrenological fingering by a mortal ; but a certificate of 
character by the spirits from the upper spheres ; though 
I have a secret misgiving that there is some uncertainty 
about this ; and as my fellow mortals have never discov- 
ered such traits of character in me, to my hitherto great 
mortification, I may be pardoned for making a disclosure 
from the spirits in regard to myself, just to enlighten their 
ignorance, and to show my fitness, in the way of natural 
credentials to make the investigation I am now pursu- 
ing ; and which, I have been told by another medium, I 
am eminently qualified to make. 

The next day, I called to receive answers to questions 
that had arisen in my mind out of the last, about the 
brain. Having informed the medium I wished to ask 
them mentally, he assented, saying that he would consult 
his spirit friends. After a few moments, he bid me 
go on. 

Q. As the spinal marrow is a continuance of the mat- 
ter of the brain, does the intellect of those predisposed 
to the belief of the system of Spiritualism have a ten- 
dency in that direction ? A. Yes, positively, it is so. 

Q. Does the brain-dribble of Spiritualistic authors, like 
that, for instance, in the great Harmonia by Davis, in their 
abnormal state, ooze out at the terminating point of said 
continuance ? A. Yes, that's it ; positively so. 

This will be seen to be satisfactory. It has long been 
a wonder, how an individual of no education or culture 
whatever, in a state of rigidity, with a countenance like 
that of death, save the muscular motion required by 
speech, should so copiously pour out such wonderful stuff 
as is found in " Nature's Divhie Revelations," " The Great 



FIFTEENTH SITTING. 139 

Harmonia," 4 vols., " Philosophy of Spiritual Inter- 
course," " The Harmonial Man," " The Penetralia," etc., 
but it is now explained. The spinal marrow in certain or- 
ganizations is employed by the mind for excursions out of 
the body in an abnormal state, and is a conductor, in this 
remarkable case, of copious discharges of brain-dribble 
from the cerebellum while in that state. Wonderful 
physiological fact ! equal to any thing yet revealed by 
spirits respecting the mutual operations of the soul and 
the body. The reader will bear this in mind in perusing 
the internal evidence of spirit literature, in the sequel. 
He will also please to remember that, according to the 
testimony of the two last mentioned media, the writer is 
an impressional medium, and therefore, his spiritual pro- 
clivities leading him to the bottom of subjects, his ques- 
tions are pointed more by direct spiritual agency than 
by his own genius. Although he can not bring himself 
under the control of this asserted fact, by actual belief, 
yet assuming the truth of Spiritualism, it must be so. The 
authority for the above facts is here given, and the fra- 
ternity in the service of this cause, can not fairly object 
to it. 

FIFTEENTH SITTING. 

July 25. Visited Miss Katy Fox. This young lady 
is too young to be an expert in deception, too simple to 
be able to beguile all classes and conditions of men, and 
manifestly too honest to make the attempt ; yet, through 
her I have received strong physical manifestations and 
the most satisfactory test of intelligence commingled. 
On my way to her residence, I was strongly impressed, 
as Spiritualists would say, with the wish that my friend 

G should pay me another visit, as I wanted to try 

more earnestly upon him niy mental test. 



140 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

At the time appointed we began. Another gentleman 
besides myself approached a common table at the invi- 
tation of the medium. This elderly gentleman was a 
stranger and a convert. He told me he had received 
remarkable physical manifestations, among which were 
the raps on stone as well as wood surface ; but, however 
various and surprising, they were nothing in his estima- 
tion compared with intelligence as a test. Loud and 
strong raps came on the floor, in confirmation of his 
remark ; and, apparently, behind the chair on which the 
medium was sitting. I inquired whether she had ever 
been insulated by means of glass? She replied in the 
affirmative, and also said, that all manner of experiments 
had been made with her without producing any alter- 
ation in the raps, and without enabling any person to 
discover their cause, or the means by which they were 
made. She requested me to go to the door, which she 
drew out upon the slide ; and, standing near it, without 
touching, she requested me to put my hand upon it, and 
then asked the spirit to rap upon the door : accordingly, 
loud raps were made upon the panel. I then put my 
ear hard upon the frame, and my hand near my ear, and 
requested the raps to be made opposite. This was done 
strongly, and I felt a jar ; immediately they were made 
at the back of the medium upon the door of a closet, and 
then again upon the floor near me. There was no ma- 
nipulation upon her part at all. 

We resumed our seats at the table, where the other 
gentleman, a friend of the family from a distance, as I 
understood, was now reading. I inquired whether the 
spirit present was ready to communicate with me. Loud 
affirmative raps were made, and, from the names I had 
put down, that of G. I. G. was selected. 

Q. Are you a relative ? A. 'No. 



FIFTEENTH SITTING. 141 

Q. A friend ? A. Yes. 

A rapping for the alphabet was made, and the follow- 
ing spelt out : 

" Mary is here with me." 

Q. A relative of mine ? A. No. Not knowing to 
whom reference was made, I remarked that probably the 
best test was to question him upon the minutise of his 
life? The answer of the medium was anticipated by 
sharp knocks upon the floor. 

The following was written : 

Q. What was your occupation — a plumber ? A. No. 

Q. A merchant ? A. No. 

Q. A minister ? A. Yes. This was doing very well ; 
but I was interrupted by another call for the alphabet. 
The following communication was then spelt out, and 
mistakes of letters corrected by raps : 

" My interest in you is great, and I wish you to care- 
fully investigate this subject, with judgment suspended. 
You know how skeptical I was regarding new and 
strange doctrine. I have changed my belief. Heaven 
to me is more beautiful, and I find that God is more just 
than my brethren represented. There is one eternal 
progression here, and you have it in your power to make 
your spirit-home a paradise of beauty. Every pure 
thought that passes through the portals of your soul, is a 
new and beautiful shrub in the garden of your home." 

This, certainly, is well said; and was startling. I asked 
if the spirit would sign his name to it ? A. Yes. I then 
wrote the names of Robert, George Gordon, Henry 
Dayton, George Wood, and the name in futt y of which 
G. I. G. are the initials. Having folded each in a paper 
ball, I threw them promiscuously on the table, and the 
four false ones were successively negatived, and the re- 
maining one chosen. Instead of that, I picked up one of 



142 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

the others; when a tumultuous rapping assured me of 
mistake. I then went over it again, with the same re- 
sult, and opening the paper designated, there, sure 
enough, was the full name of G. I. G., intended for the 
signature ! 

The medium then asked if the spirit would ring a 
bell, if put under the table ? A. Yes. 

The bell was sent for, and I proceeded : 

Q. Where did you die — New-York ? A. No. 

Q. Newtown? A. No. 

Q. Milwaukie? A. No. 

Q. S e? A. Yes. 

Q. Is your family at New- York ? A. No. 

Q. Somerville? A. No. 

Q. Are they at L ? A. No. 

Q. At N e ? A. Yes. 

Q. What is my vocation — a merchant ? A. No. 

Q. A lawyer ? A. No. 

Q. A minister ? A. Yes. 

At this moment a large-sized dinner-bell was brought 
in and placed under the table. A call for the alphabet 
required me to change places with the other gentleman. 
I could see no object in this, unless to make variety in 
the intelligence. After the change was made, another 
call required us to sit closer together. Rappings now re- 
fused all requests made. The medium placed both her 
feet on the feet of the other gentleman, and soon the 
bell rang loudly, and was tumbled over ; was rolled over, 
as I should judge, and then rang again. I distinctly 
heard the clapper click, as it was shoved along on the 
carpet, much in the same way as a child would play with 
a bell upon the floor. This was twice repeated. Then the 
gentleman requested the spirit to unfasten the foot-straps 
of his pantaloons. He assured me he felt something at 



FIFTEENTH SITTING. 143 

work at one of his feet, extended for that operation. At 
this stage of the proceeding, unfortunately we were in- 
terrupted, much to the annoyance of us all; but a se- 
cond call compelled the medium to leave. The spirit 
promised, however, to meet me in the same place at 
a certain time appointed, to complete our interview, and 
we parted. Here it is proper to say, not a single mis-, 
take was made, in the answers above given. 

Three days after, I resumed. The spirit kept his pro- 
mise, and gave me his initials as before, and I proceeded 
with mental test questions of fact : 

Q. Where did you statedly preach — Charleston ? A. 
No. 

Q, St 1? A. Yes. 

Q. Albany? A. No. 

Q. N e? A. Yes. 

Q. Rye? A. No. 

Q. J a? A. Yes. 

Q. Cove? A. No. 

Q. L i? A. Yes. 

Q. Of what denomination — Baptist ? A. No. 

Q. Episcopalian ? A. No. 

Q. Dutch Reformed ? A. Yes. 

Q. Were you married more than once ? A. Yes. 

Q. What was your wife's first name — Sarah Jones? 
A. No. 

Q. Mary Peters? A. No. 

Q. E.VanL ? A. Yes. 

Q. Where did you marry her : N e ? A. No. 

Q. Rye? A. No. 

Q. New-Brunswick? A. Yes. 

Q. What is your second wife's name — Rachel Mont- 
fort? A. No. 

Q. C R ? A. Yes. 



144 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Q. Where did you many her — New-Brunswick ? A, 
No. 

Q. Harrisburg? A. No. 

Q. N— e? A. Yes. 

Q. Of what disease did you die — apoplexy? A. No. 

Q. Dysentery? A. Yes. 

Here was a call for the alphabet, and this sentence 
was spelt out : 

" The lady I married of Cincinnati is with me !" 

Q. Have you had an interview with me before ? A. 
Yes. 

Q. Through Miss C ? A. No. 

Q. Through Mr. C ? A. Yes. 

Here are twenty-eight questions of fact, all correctly 
answered; but, by the call for the alphabet, the spirit 
entrapped himself in a great mistake, yet the intelligence 
is manifest. 

I proceeded now to cross-question him mentally, as be- 
fore, on the matter of his written communication, and 
upon other things he ought to know about : 

Q. Did you preach true doctrine ? A. Yes. 

Q. Did you preach false doctrine ? A. Yes. 

Q. Have you changed your belief ? A. No. 

Q. Was you skeptical about strange doctrine ? A. 
Yes. 

Q. Was you credulous in this matter ? A. Yes. 

Q. Do you believe now all you preached on earth ? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Is the Bible true f A. Yes. 

Q. Is the Bible false? A. Yes. 

Q. Is the doctrine of the Trinity true? A. Yes. 

Q. Is that doctrine false ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are all religions alike worthless ? A. Don't know. 

Q. Is Christ a fabulous being? A. Yes. 



FIFTEENTH SITTING. 145 

Q. Is Christ a real being ? A. Yes. 

Q. Was he a mere man ? ^t. Yes. 

Q. Is the doctrine of atonement a sure foundation? 
A. Yes. 

Q. Is the atonement of Christ a /afee foundation? A. 
Yes. 

$. Does the blood of Christ alone wash away sin? 
A. No. 

Q. Is it valueless for that purpose? A. Yes. 

Q. Are you saved by Christ ? A. Doubtful. 

Q. Are you saved without Christ ? A. Yes. 

$. Is faith in Christ a vain thing ? A. Don't know. 

$. Is faith in Christ the only way of salvation ? A. 
Yes. 

Q. Is there a hell ? .4. Yes. 

Q. Is hell a fiction ? ^4. Yes. 

<2. Is the devil a real being ? A. Yes. 

$. Is he a fabulous being ? A. Yes. 

§. Do personating demons deceive men by means of 
Spiritualism? A. Yes. 

Q. Is Spiritualism true ? -4. Yes. 

Q. Is it false ? A Yes. 

(?. Is it the old system of Demonology revived ? A. 
Yes. (Tumultuous rapping.) 

Q. Is heathenism preferable to Christianity ? ^4. Yes. 
(Strong raps.) 

Q. Now, I demand of you, in the name of Christ, are 
you a demon personating my friend ? A. Yes. (Strong- 
raps.) 

Q. Are all communications of Spiritualism from per- 
sonating demons ? A. Yes. (Strong raps.) 

Q. Is banishment from God your eternal portion ? 
A. Yes. (Raps slow, as if reluctantly given.) 

Q. Why did you attempt to deceive me ? No answer. 



146 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

I insist upon an answer. Here there was a rapping for 
the alphabet, when this sentence was spelled : 

" You are mistaken." 

Q. I demand again, in the name of Christ, are you a 
lost spirit ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are you an ignorant spirit ? A. No. 

Q. Are you a personating spirit ? A. Yes. 

Q. Are you a demon damned ? A. Yes. 

Q. Will you ever be saved ? A. No. 

Q. Is it the design, by the movement of modern Spi- 
ritualism, to overthrow Christianity? A. Yes. I wanted 
no more intelligence, and left. 

All this was carried on without a single test question vo- 
calized. It wiU be seen, that no Spiritualist can produce 
a stronger case of the identity of a spirit friend. On all 
questions of fact, I received accurate answers ; but, by 
cross-questions, the spirit upset his own communication, 
given me only three days before. By a double set of 
questions of speculation, he contradicted himself through- 
out, and by questions of solemn adjuration, he confessed 
his true character, and the object had in view by the 
movement of modern Spiritualism. The spirit, before he 
left, confessed that he coidd not deceive me; and by the 
great variety of sound on the table and on the floor 
curiously made when I adjured him, and surprising to 
the medium herself, it was evident to my mind, he was 
greatly embarrassed. She said there were other spirits 
with him, but it was of no use ; they could not help him 
out. 

Thus ended my investigations. However others may 
feel or judge about the matter, I am perfectly satis- 
fied. I have taken the Judge's advice, and, by a most 
thorough test, for which I am indebted to him, I have 
arrived at a perfect conviction, that however estimable 



INTELLIGENCE FROM INTELLECT. 14V 

our Spiritualists may be as men and as citizens, they are 
most fearfully deluded. I do not wish to disparage 
them, or say aught against them ; I have tried to be 
just in my estimation of private character, and however 
wounded in my own feelings by the hard speeches, and 
unworthy personal attacks made indiscriminately on the 
members of my own profession, I would not return rail- 
ing for railing, but earnestly pray that they may be for- 
given, for they know not what they do. 

I have implicitly followed the directions of the Judge, 
and I have minutely recorded my own experience, in 
addition to other matters, that the reader may have the 
data upon which he can do his own thinking. Now, were 
there nothing but a host of facts like those mentioned 
in the first chapter, apart from any intelligence, we should 
indeed be unable to account for them. Their tendency 
might lead us to associate them with evil agency in some 
general way, yet few would attribute them to the opera- 
tion of spirits directly. But then we are sure of one 
thing, namely, intelligence must come from intellect, no 
matter how small it may be. Here we have a foothold. 
When we see a rainbow, we ascribe it to a natural cause ; 
but should we see the word " Noah" spelt out in it, we 
should ascribe it to an intelligent cause. A " streak of 
lightning" does not disturb us, but should it flash out a 
distinct intelligible word, we should ascribe it to a spirit- 
ual cause. So we must argue with regard to these phe- 
nomena. If we can detect intelligence in them, which 
circumstances make it irrational to ascribe to the minds 
of the media, we must feel ourselves compelled to assign 
them to a spiritual cause of some sort ; and the tendency 
of the whole unquestionably demonstrates the nature of 
such spiritual agency. Scientific men have been investi- 
gating this subject for the past six years or more, but 



148 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

they have failed hitherto, satisfactorily to account for the 
phenomena, and we are as far from a solution now as at 
the beginning of their inquiries. Allowing that a large 
portion of the recorded facts are mainly fictions, still 
there is left a large amount so well authenticated 
it would be folly to deny them ; and it would be blind- 
ness indeed not to see, that the practical aim to be reach- 
ed through these wonders, is the establishment of the 
minds of believers in a system of doctrine universally 
taught wherever they obtain. The wonders wrought, 
go to prepare the mind for the reception of the doctrine 
and confirmation of its truth. These seem to be imita- 
tions of the miracles of the New Testament, and designed 
for a similar purpose. So far, then, as imitation is observ- 
able in the adaptation of means to ends, there is a gen- 
eral design discovered, and consequently a degree of gen- 
eral intelligence is apparent. 

But we must argue upon our own facts. What do 
they prove ? 

1. That rappings and tippings are produced really and 
truly by some cause, not in the media ; though their in- 
strumental interposition seems to be necessary to the 
manifestations. Dr. Taylor of Petersham, Mass., discov- 
ered accidentally that he was a writing medium, and 
while in the abnormal state, would write rapidly " with- 
out any voluntary effort of his own." " While in this 
state," he says, " I felt a sensation like that of a light gal- 
vanic current passing through me. Sometimes it appear- 
ed to be a steady thrill, and sometimes it was intermit- 
tent, resembling light shocks of electricity." His conclu- 
sion is, that the strange phenomena of which he was the 
subject, were not tricks of his own, neither did they come 
from the spirit world, but were the result of what he calls 
detached vitalized electricity. Thus he would explain the 



AN INSUFFICIENT CAUSE. 149 

whole. Few persons comprehend the meaning of this 
phrase, but all can readily understand, that to be a suffi- 
cient explanation, this agent ought to have been always 
producing the same effects which have but recently been 
manifested. If the vital electricity of the human body can 
be detached from it, so as to produce sounds and other phe- 
nomena, how happens it that they have not occurred 
before, or that they now occur in such profusion ? This 
explanation does not prove adequate. 

2. There is a low degree of intelligence exhibited by 
means of these phenomena, which the circumstances of 
its reception forbid us to connect with the minds of the 
media ; and therefore it must come from some other in- 
tellects ; and whether good or bad, that must be deter- 
mined by the evident nature, tendency, and design of the 
intelligence received. 

The author of " Counsels for the Cottage and the Man- 
sion," a well-written and useful book, says : 

" As to the plea that ' spirits must make the sounds,' 
to account for the intelligence communicated, it being 
impossible for mere ' electricity to originate facts,' we 
reply by affirming that there is no intelligence given be- 
yond a certain limit ; that is, the mind of some one or 
ones in connection, either present or absent, for it makes 
no difference. For available purposes, a person a thou- 
sand or ten thousand miles distant may yield all the 
amount of intelligence required in a given case. Dis- 
tance is no obstacle whatever. Electricity counts neither 
time nor space. For instance, the transmission of elec- 
tricity through a conducting substance is instantaneous. 
A wire, or other conductor, may have motion communi- 
cated to its whole length at the same moment, whatever 
that length may be ; and it is stated that electro-mag- 
netic impulse maybe transmitted at the rate of one hundred 
and eighty thousand miles in a second, thus outstripping 
the sun in its march ! 

" A large number of intelligent individuals, who, for a 



150 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

year or two past, have instituted a series of experiments 
upon this matter of ' intelligence,' have found that in no 
case has information been imparted beyond what existed 
in then own minds or that of some kindred or friend." 

I can not think of any thing more intensely absurd than 
the theory, that correct answers may be given to my 
mental questions by a person " a thousand or ten thou- 
sand miles" distant, through detached vitalized electric- 
ity, or any other natural agent, and announced to me on 
a table, by rapping or tipping, or through the fingers of 
a writing medium. 

At my tenth sitting, it will be seen, that the law of 
gravitation was overcome in raising the table, with the 
hands and portions of the forearms of the medium upon 
it ; that the name of my father was selected out of sev- 
eral others, and a communication given, professedly writ- 
ten by him, and signed with his true name, without 
a vocal sound. This, I am to believe, all comes from 
some living person, within a circuit of ten thousand miles, 
more or less, through detached vitalized electricity! 
Believe it, who can. 

At the same sitting, the true initials of a departed 
friend were given at the end of a communication assign- 
ing a reason; and several mental questions of fact, 
utterly beyond the power of the media to answer, had 
they been vocalized, were correctly answered through 
the tippings of his table, and all by vitalized electricity 
emanating from some person somewhere on the face of 
the earth! 

At my eleventh sitting, the true names of three parents 
were selected from several fictitious names, secretly 
written ; and correct answers to questions of fact secretly 
written, and as soon as written, were given by raps upon 
the table and floor ; and all this comes from some per- 



A STRONG TEST. 151 

son's vital electricity, detached, and performing the opera- 
tions of mind, it may be from the other side of the globe ! 
This beats all assumptions, for extravagance, ever yet 
made. Such explanations can only serve to confirm 
Spiritualists in their delusion. Our theory of personating 
demons explains every thing, without the incumbrance 
of any such incomprehensible suppositions. 

At my twelfth sitting, if the operation of the Spiritoscope, 
as above described, be satisfactory to the reader, then the 
explanations to the answers given, exhibit remarkable in- 
telligence ; although it is clear that " Anna Williams" is 
a personating demon. 

At my fourteenth sitting, which is the most remarkable 
one, a very striking display of intellect, in connection 
with physical manifestations, shows that no material power 
is adequate to account for it. Could I be brought to be- 
lieve that vitalized electricity, or any other known im- 
ponderable natural agent, by any possibility, could write 
out such a communication, and answer correctly so many 
questions, I could not avoid the grossest forms of material- 
ism, nor the blackness of darkness that would be to my 
soul as the horrible pall of annihilation. But it will be 
seen, that nothing has been communicated here, incom- 
patible with the agency of personating demons. Their 
confession is wrung from them. 

3. The doctrines of Spiritualism may be all received 
by means of the mental test ordinarily applied. But in 
the way it has been used by me, the contrary doctrines 
are also taught, making a perfect medley of contradic- 
tions, so glaring as to prove the fact of no intelligence 
zohatever, in answers to questions of speculation, which 
spirits ought to know. Now, the intelligence manifested 
in the application of means to an end, and in answers to 
questions of fact, taken in connection with the absence of 



152 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

intelligence in answers to questions of speculation, is con- 
founding to the mind ; and such a result can not come 
from a good source. 

It will be observed that the spirits are unanimous 
in teaching the doctrines of heathenism and Spiritualism ; 
and in our reading, we have found that this everywhere 
prevails ; but we have seen no attempt made, through 
reverse questions, to obtain their confirmation. If a 
spirit can intelligently answer " Yes" to the mental ques- 
tion, " Is the Devil a fabulous being ?" surely he ought to 
answer " No" to that question reversed. If the doc- 
trines of Spiritualism had been thus confirmed by two 
sets of contrary questions, then there would be some 
ground for the confident assertions of our Spiritualistic 
authors, but none for then- vituperations, their unman- 
nerly and unmanly abuse. This, however, is not the 
case. The low intelligence, in answer to questions of 
fact, has been so perfectly overwhelming to our credulous 
friends, that they have swallowed, without winking, the 
whole system of heathenism, without a single respectable 
attempt to test their spirits, as we have done, on questions 
of speculation ! They have therefore shown themselves 
the most credulous men in the world, while they malev- 
olently berate the believer in Christianity, for that very 
prominent trait of character they have ignorantly labored 
to make the most conspicuous in themselves, and have 
not labored in vain ; for the result is made manifest in 
all their horrid publications. 

4. We have proved, what they have done before us, 
(though they deny it,) that personating demons are the 
prime agents in advancing the work of modern Spiritual- 
ism. No man among them can present better tests of 
personal identity of good spirits than we can do ; and 
yet we have convicted them of gross lies, and have made 



SEDUCING SPIRITS. 153 

them confess themselves personating demons, i.e., evil 
spirits, and that modern Spiritualism is the enterprise of 
such spirits alone. Now we defy the whole batch of 
Spiritualistic authors, whose brain-dribble has been flow- 
ing to tarnish the character of Christ, misrepresent his 
nature and his work, vilify his Church, his ministry, his 
people, and his cause, to prove the contrary. They can not 
do it. Nothing has yet occurred, within the whole com- 
pass of the sayings and doings of spirits accepted as good, 
incompatible with the cunning and artifice of those 
malignant beings called by Christ the Devil and his angels. 
But we appeal to authority which Spiritualists will not 
dispute. We quote from a book of concentrated blas- 
phemy, entitled, " The History of the Origin of all 
Things, delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ, to L. M. 
Arnold, of JPough/ceepsie, Medium! ! 

" How, then, is it, when men have desired communica- 
tions from higher spirits, such as the apostles and others, 
and spirits have desired to personate them, but been un 
able to withstand the tests applied to manifest their truth 
or falsity ? The pretended apostles, or spirits of other 
distinguished men, were really the spirits of lower cir- 
cles, who, finding a man, or a medium, actuated by 
desires of notoriety, have acted in their own desire to be 
great in name, and famous in deeds, and assumed such 
names as they perceived their medium, or questioner, de- 
sired to have declared to them ! 

" But how, then, can we know what spirit converses 
with us, or communicates with us ? By being passive, 
and receiving with faith what is given, and by asking 
God to give you such knowledge, in his own way, and 
time, and manner. This is every man's duty, and the 
communications you may then obtain will be reliable, and 
not only reliable, but if you act upon them, and follow 
the course you are then directed to pursue, you will be 
blessed by such an increase of knowledge that you will 



154 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

find you need not ask questions, or raise objections, or 
entertain doubts." 

This is the sum of the whole matter : " The personating 
spirits of the lower circles," in conjunction with media, 
as in the instance of the author, " actuated by desires of 
notoriety," have endeavored to impose upon mankind ! 
Where is the proof any medium can give, that such is 
not the fact in his or her particular case ? Just none at 
all, by the evidence of the last answer in the quotation, 
which is from Christ himself! 

Spiritualists say that Paul was a "seeing medium." 
He tells us that the Devil is " the prince of the power of 
the air." Dr. Hare says that the sphere of had spirits 
commences some sixty miles above the surface of the 
earth, and is as thick as all the other sjmeres put together : 
a very significant fact. Christ says that this leader of 
this adverse power, for the purpose of deception, can per- 
sonate an angel of light. Of course we must suppose 
that his imps can do the same thing, otherwise the decep- 
tion would have no adequate means of succeeding. Now, 
in view of these conjoint facts, which they admit as com- 
ing through true media, we think the burden of proof lies 
heavily on our Spiritualists. Our assertion is, that Spirit- 
ualism is the work of the "Devil and his angels." They 
must prove that its manifestations are above the powers 
of these beings. A denial of their existence is a begging 
of the question, which is made the more absurd by their 
admission of the existence of evil spirits. We contend 
that the low intelligence, the fantastic movements, the 
"hifalutin," and the infamous sentiments, brought out 
to astonish the world, are precisely in keeping with the 
character of Satan, and their occurrence at this time goes 
to demonstrate the truth of the Scriptures. 

We trust now there will be an end to the challenges 



WARNING. 155 

and charges respecting the pusillanimity, bigotry, and 
priestcraft of Christian men, who have forborne until 
their forbearance is scornfully held up as the evidence of 
cowardice. Let Spiritualists meet the issue we have 
raised, without shirking. Only we ask them not to abuse 
us, for this is not quite the evidence of a good spirit. 

In the mean time, we warn all persons to keep away 
from the fascinating influence of modern necromancy. 
We have explored it, for the purpose of trying its preten- 
sions, and of putting enough of it in the hands of all who 
will read, to satisfy them of its nature, operations, ten- 
dency, and end. But if any are determined to test the 
matter further, we venture to say they will always suc- 
ceed in getting contradictions and lies by following our 
plan. This certainly would not be the case, were the spirits 
good. First, ask mental questions of fact. To these, true 
answers may be given. Secondly, ask mental questions 
of speculation, on such subjects as spirits must know, but 
always varying them, as has been done in the preceding 
pages ; and the confounding of the mind will come, instead 
of the comforting information of which such high assur- 
ances are given. This will prove the spirits to belong to 
him who, the apostle says, " now worketh in the children 
of disobedience." 



156 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 



CHAPTER m. 

" The thing that hath been, is that which shall be ; and that which is done, is 
that which shall be done ; and there is no new thing under the sun."— Ecc. 1 : 9. 

PARALLEL MANIFESTATIONS AMONG THE ANCIENT 
HEATHEN. 

Is modern Spiritualism ancient Heathenism? — A list of modern Media— 
A list of ancient Media — Spirit-messengers — Modern and ancient 
"Spiritoscope" — Female and male Media — Ancient Manifestations the 
more wonderful — Heathenism revived — The Big Image — New Light, 
old Darkness. 

Our first chapter contains a bare sample of physical 
manifestations, many, various, wondrous, and often con- 
founding, which are said to prove the claims of modern 
Spiritualism. Our second chapter is the result of an 
earnest inquiry, pursued under the direction of the leaders 
of this movement. The details led us to think of the am- 
biguities and uncertainties that distressed the minds of the 
ancients, whose common practice it was to consult certain 
oracles, reputed for spiritual intercourse among the 
heathen. 

This opened a wide field of facts, whence parallelisms 
might be drawn, to show that the old heathen arts of in- 
terrogating the dead, to coax out of them the secrets of 
"life in the spheres," very much resemble those of the 
present movement, which are practised for the same pur- 
pose. This irresistibly brings up the question : Is not 



CLASSES OF MEDIA. 157 

modern Spiritualism substantially heathenism revived? 
If we can establish the affirmative, by a short process, it 
will at once settle the value of this canse, and show it to 
be, not only a rejection of the Gospel, but an actual return 
to that old detestable imposture that cursed the world 
for ages. 

We know of no speedier way of determining this mat- 
ter, than by a comparison of mediumship, by which the 
operations of both systems were carried on. 

We have the following list of modern media furnished 
to our hand by the author of an " Epitome of Spirit Inter- 
course." 

"1. Mapping mediums. — If conditions are favorable, 
raps will sometimes be heard when certain persons ap- 
proach tables, etc., appearing to be produced by some- 
thing invisible striking it. 

" 2. Tipping mediums. — In similar circumstances, arti- 
cles of furniture are tipped or carried, raised in the air, 
etc., sometimes without touchmg, in all cases without 
muscular pressure. 

"3. Writing mediums. — Their hands are controlled by 
an invisible intelligence, and words which may or may 
not correspond with the ideas of the medium, written 
without his volition, frequently in different handwriting, 
sometimes in languages he does not know. 

" 4. Speaking mediums have their vocal organs con- 
trolled by spirits. 

" 5. Another class can be operated on in various bodily 
organs. Musical mediums belong to this class. 

"6. Impressional mediums. — Some of these have the 
icords as well as the ideas presented to their minds by 
spirits — others only the ideas — in the latter case, the 
mundane and strictly spiritual phenomena intermix. 

" 7. Drawing mediums differ from writing mediums 
only in the purpose, not in the nature of the operation. 

" 8. Seeing mediums. — These have " the gift of discern- 
ing spirits." 

" 9, Mediums for spiritual dreams, visions, etc." 



158 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

Comparing this with ancient heathenism, we shall find 
that a remarkable similarity exists. 

1. Mapping mediums. — "Sometimes, indeed, an in- 
visible and incorporeal spirit surrounds the recumbents, so 
as not to be perceived by the sight, but by a certain other 
consentation and intelligence. The entrance of this spirit, 
also, is accompanied with a noise, and he diffuses himself 
on aU sides without contact." (Jamb., De Myst) 

2. Tipping mediums. — " The inspiration is indicated by 
the motions of the whole body, and of certain parts of it, 
by the rest of the body, by harmonious orders and dances, 
and by elegant sounds, or the contraries of these ; either 
the body, likewise, is seen to be elevated, or increased in 
bulk, or to be borne along sublimely in the air.'''' (Idem.) 

An instance of this, it will be remembered, occurred at 
Dr. Gray's. 

3. Writing mediums. — " That which is demoniacal is 
of a ministrant nature, and receives whatever the gods 
may announce, promptly employing manual operation, as 
it were, in things which the gods intellectually perceive, 
wish, and command." (Idem?) 

This would seem to refer to writing, but there is a bet- 
ter proof in the well-known Sibylline books, which long 
retained their authority among the Romans. Their au- 
thors were certain ladies of secluded habits, who gave 
responses in writing to those who consulted them. "The 
Sibyl of Cumse is said to have written in Greek verses 
the collection of prophecies famous under the name of 
Sibylline books." (Am. HJitc) 

4. Speaking mediums. — " He (divinity) sometimes 
makes some stupid man (like a Poughkeepsie seer) to speak 
wisely, through which it becomes manifest to every one, 
that this is not a certain human, but a divine work." 
(Iamb., De Myst.) 



CLASSES OP MEDIA. 159 

"At Corinth, a certain Chaldean stranger is just now 
disturbing the whole city with his wonderful replies to 
questions asked him, and is disclosing the secrets of the 
Fates to the public for payment." (Apuleius, Met., 
lib. ii.) 

Thus one of our own travelling media, who went West 
in the beginning of this year, on a professional tour, told 
the writer, that the whole bar of Cincinnati, where he 
had been performing, had become converts to Spiritu- 
alism ; and we have no doubt he made a good specu- 
lation, judging from the charges he made in New- York. 

This kind of mediumship is not circumscribed by the 
natural attainments of the speaker, but is remarkable for 
utterances in all kinds of languages. It is well known, 
too, that some of our media speak, as the Greeks used to 
say, " with an insane mouth," giving forth vocal sounds 
with long-continued, laboring breath, which no person pre- 
sent could comprehend. Such displays of the divine affla- 
tus may be what they profess to be, foreign tongues, for 
nobody can disprove ; but in this particular, the ancient 
media are not outdone. 

Herodotus (ZTrania, viii. 135) says: "The following, 
to me very strange circumstance, is related by the Theban 
to have happened : that Mys, of Europus, in going round 
to all the oracles, came also to the precinct of the Ptoan 
Apollo ; this temple is called Ptoan, but belongs to the 
Thebans, and is situated above the lake Copais. When this 
man, Mys, arrived at the temple, three citizens chosen by 
the public, accompanied him for the purpose of writing 
down what the oracle should pronounce ; and forthwith 
the priestess gave an answer in a foreign tongue ; and 
those Thebans who accompanied h im stood amazed at 
hearing a foreign language instead of Greek." 

"When the people of Tralles were consulting the ma- 



160 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

gical art, as to what would be the result of the Mithri- 
datic war, a boy, while looking on the reflection of a 
statue of Mercury in the water, uttered a prophecy of a 
hundred and sixty lines, setting forth what was about to 
come to pass." (Apuleius' Defense)) 

Many instances of clairvoyance might be quoted, by 
which money and other valuables lost, have been traced, 
but without much success. 

5. Musical mediums. — See No. 2 above. " The brazen 
statue of Memnon had the wonderful property of uttering 
a melodious sound every day at sun-rising ; at the setting 
of the sun and in the night the sound was lugubrious. 
Strabo confesses himself ignorant, whether the sound pro- 
ceeded from the basis of the statue, or from the people 
that surrounded it." (Lempriere) 

6. Impressional mediums.- — "This divine possession 
also emits words which are not understood by those that 
utter them, for they pronounce them, as it is said, with 
an insane mouth, and are wholly subservient, and entirely 
yield themselves to the energy of the predominating 
god." (Iamb) 

7". Seeing mediums. — "This (divination) illuminates 
with divine light the ethereal and luciform vehicle with 
which the soul is surrounded, from which divine visions 
occupy our fantastic power, these visions being excited 
by the will of the gods." (Idem.) 

8. Mediums for spiritual dreams. — " In the temple of 
Esculapius, diseases are healed through divine dreams; 
and through the order of nocturnal appearances, the me- 
dical art is obtained from sacred dreams." (Idem) 

9. Mealing mediums. — These we have in abundance, 
but so had the ancients. " To Valerius Aper, a blind 
soldier, the oracle gave response, ' that he should take 
the blood of a white cock and honey, and rub them to- 



A SPIRITUAL PEESCEIPTION. 161 

gether, and therewith anohit his eyes three days.' And 
he saw, and came, and returned thanks." (Gruteri The- 
saurus.)* 

We have also spiritual prescriptions, of the components 
of which we are ignorant ; but we do not think it fair to 
■patent medicines given by good spirits for the maladies 
of mankind. A more liberal and enlightened course was 
pursued by Philippus Atjreolus Theopheastus Bom- 
bastus de Hohenheim, who boasted of an intercourse 
with spirits, from whom he professed to have derived the 
most valuable medicines. Here is one of them, quoted 
by the author last referred to, and to whom we are much 
indebted for the best entertainment we have ever had in 
" apocatastatical" reading. 

" An admirable oyntment for icounds. 

" Take of Moss that groweth upon a scull, 3 ii 

Of man's grease, 3 ii 

Of Mummy, and man's blood, each, 3 ss 

Linseed Oyl, | ii 

Oyl of roses and Bole-Armoniack, each, 3 i 

" Let them be all beat together in a morter so long, un- 
til they come to a most pure and subtil oyntment ; then 
keep it in a Box. And when any wound happens, dip a 
stick of wood in the blood that it may be bloody ; which 
being dyed, thrust it quite into the aforesaid oyntment, and 
leave it therein ; afterwards binde up the wound with a 
new Linen Rowler every morning washing it, * * * 
and it shall be healed, be it never so great, without any 
Plaister or Paine. After this manner you may Cure any 
one that is wounded, though he be ten miles distant 
from you, if you have but his blood. It helpeth also other 
griefs, as the pain in the teeth and other hurts, if you have 
a stick wet in the blood, and thrust into the oyntment and 
there left. These are the wonderful gifts of God, given 
for the use and health of man." {Paracelsis of Celestial 
Medicines.) 

*Apocat., p. 91. 



162 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Now-a-days, you have only to carry a lock of the patient's 
own hair to a healing medium, and she will prescribe, no 
matter whether it be ten or twenty miles off. The cure is 
another matter. 

10. Premanifesting mediums. — By these, investiga- 
tions of futurity were carried on, through the viscera of ani- 
mals. Our modern theurgists have not, as yet, this kind 
of mediumship developed among them. 

11. Aquatic mediums. — "It is acknowledged, then, by 
all men, that the oracle in Colophon gives its answers 
through the medium of water." {Iambi.) 

12. Enchanting mediums. — "Sometimes, also, by 
musical sounds alone, unaccompanied with words, they 
healed the passions of the soul, and certain diseases, 
enchanting, as they say, in reality." {lam., Life of 
Pythag.) 

13. Possessed mediums. — Such was the Pythoness of 
Apollo, into whom he entered, taking control of her 
organs, through which he uttered oracular responses in 
hexameter verse. We have some few media of this 
kind. The priest at Colophon, though ignorant and illit- 
erate, uttered responses to the mental questions of those 
who consulted the oracle. This is the universal practice 
with our media. Many of the ancient, as well as our 
own, spolte different languages. 

It will now be seen, that the ancient almost precisely 
resembled the modern necromancy ; but they had a great- 
er variety of media, and more powerful ones, too, who 
far excelled in brilliancy and awfulness of effect. But, 
considering the short time in which demons have been at 
work, no man can deny that they have made respectable 
progress among us, and bid fair to give horrible signifi- 
cancy to that old apologetic remark : " Heathen enough 
at home." 



THE SPIEITOSCOPE. 163 

This agreement between the ancient and modern man- 
ifestations is remarkably minute. Probably Dr. Hare, 
of Philadelphia, thinks the world has never before 
heard of such a feat as his familiar spirit performed, on 
the 3d of July, 1855, when it undertook, at one o'clock, 
to convey from the Atlantic Hotel, Cape May Island, a 
message to Mrs. G., in the former place, on business of 
emergency, and return an answer at half-past three, the 
same afternoon. But such things are not new. Spirit 
dispatches were well understood in old times. 

" Apion, the grammarian, said that he could evoke de- 
parted spirits (umbras) for the purpose of sending them 
to Homer, to inquire in what country and of what parent- 
age he was born, but dared not to make known the 
reply. [Plin. Nat. ITist., lib. xxx. 6.) 

We regret to say that the contrivance of the " Spirito- 
scope," the honor of which Dr. Hare takes all to himself, 
does not seem exactly to have originated from his 
genius. Some heathen gentlemen in Rome hit upon a 
spirit machine very analogous to his, and as spirits 
inform us that they infuse thoughts into the mind, it is 
probable that the real merit of the Doctor is narrowed 
down to certain inconsiderable adaptations required by 
the peculiarities of modern development. The story is 
this: 

" Certain political gentlemen, in the time of the 
Emperor Valens, being incautiously curious to know who 
was to be the next emperor, made inquiry of the spirits. 
Tne Roman police, however, who managed to be informed 
of many things without the aid of the spirits, were of 
opinion that they were asking improper questions, 
whereupon the inquisitive gentlemen suddenly found 
themselves arraigned for high treason. On their trial, 
one of the operators described to the judges the machine 



164 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

which had Tbeen brought into court, and their way of con- 
sulting the spirits by it, as follows : 

" ' This ill-omened little table, which you see before 
you, most noble judges, we constructed of laurel-twigs, 
with unlucky auspices, so as to resemble in form the 
Delphic tripod ; and having consecrated it, with mystic, 
chanted imprecations, and with much and long-contin- 
ued dancing in a ring about it, at length we got it into 
operation. The method of working it, whenever it was 
consulted concerning hidden things, was on this wise : It 
was placed in the midst of an apartment, which was made 
pure by Arabian odors, a circular plate, composed of dif- 
ferent metals, being simply laid upon it, upon the extreme 
margin of whose circumference were skillfully engraved 
the scriptile forms of the twenty -four letters of the alpha- 
bet, separated from each other by accurately-measured 
spaces. Over this, robed in linen vestments, having on 
his feet sandals of the same material, the torulus wound 
about his head, and holding hi his hand the boughs of a 
tree of good omen — the spirit, from whom the prescient 
response was expected having been propitiated by 
appropriate chants — stood one skilled in ritual science, 
holding suspended a small ring composed of finest Capar- 
thian thread, and wrought with mystic rites, which, fall- 
ing at regular intervals upon single letters, composed 
heroic verses conformable to the questions asked, and 
complete in mode and measure, like those which proceed 
from the Pythia, or from the oracle at Branchidse.' " 
(Amm,ianus, lxxix. 29.)* 

By comparing"the foregoing with the Doctor's machine, 
it will be seen that a " disk, having the alphabet arranged 
upon the extreme margin," and attached to a table, are 
the main objects that strike the eye in both. And since 

*Apocatastasis, pp. 15, 16. 



MEDIA AND MANIFESTATIONS. 165 

spirits claim the authorship of our thoughts, is not this 
proof that the same spirit that suggested this happy 
thought in the first instance reproduced it in the Doctor's 
brain ? Does not this coincidence circumstantially 
demonstrate the connection and common origin of the 
ancient and the modern systems, the former of which is 
now commonly known by the name of paganism f 

The large majority of our media are females. This, 
also, was true in the olden days of Spiritualism. lambli- 
chus says : " Those who are precedaneously inspired by 
the mother of the gods are women ; but the males that 
are thus inspired are very few in number, and such as are 
more effeminate." 

The old manifestations were much more powerful than 
they are now. " The gods, being benevolent and propi- 
tious, impart their light to theurgists in unenvying abun- 
dance, calling upwards their souls to themselves, procur- 
ing them a union with themselves, and accustoming them, 
while they are yet in the body, to be separated from 
bodies, (this is glorious, Judge,) and to be led round to 
their eternal and intelligible principle." {Idem) 

" Divine beauty, indeed, shines with an immense splen- 
dor, as it were, fixes the spectators in astonishment, 
imparts a divine joy, presents itself to the view with inef- 
fable symmetry, and is exempt from all other species of 
pulchritude." {Idem) 

" The presence of the gods also emits a fight, accom- 
panied with intelligible harmony, and exhibits that which 
is not body as body to the eyes of the soul, through those 
of the body." {Idem.) 

" When heroes appear, certain parts of the earth are 
moved, and sounds are heard around them, (probably 
raps) But when archons are present, an assemblage of 
many luminous appearances runs round them, difficult to 



166 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

be borne, whether these appearances are mundane or 
terrestrial." {Idem.) 

" The dreams sent from God take place either when 
sleep is leaving us, and we are beginning to awake, (and 
then we hear a certain voice, which concisely tells us what 
is to he done,) or voices are heard by us, between sleep- 
ing and waking, or when we are perfectly awake." (Idem.) 

" Their energies, (of the media,) likewise, are not at all 
human ; for inaccessible places become accessible to those 
that are divinely inspired. They are thrown into fire, 
and over rivers, like the priest in Castabalis, without being 
injured /" (Idem) 

"As Rufinus, a respectable man, once came to Proclus, 
and heard him teach, he perceived a flame on his head 
during his expositions. When Proclus had ended, Rufi- 
nus, therefore, ran up to him, and adored him as a god ; 
and by his prayers and conjurations, he could even bring 
rain, appease earthquakes, etc. Iamblichus, during his 
prayers, was raised ten feet above the surface of the 
earth. Maximus, the tutor of the Emperor Julian, raised 
spirits /" (JVat. and Mor. Influ. of Heathenism) 

These manifestations have not yet been equalled in our 
day, but then we have not as many media. Fabricius 
counts up nearly a hundred different modes of divination 
among the heathen, and each had its peculiar kind of 
media ; hence, as our Spiritualists think, the age of mod- 
ern development is yet in its infancy. 

From the foregoing comparison, the manifestations and 
the media would seem to make out our modern movement 
a clear case of heathenism revived. And when we come to 
consider the doctrines taught, hereinafter specified, it will 
be difficult to escape this conclusion, nothing being want- 
ing to establish identity between the two systems, but 
images and a ritual. The latter seems to be in a fair 



THE BIG IDOL. 16*7 

way of development, from the incantations of the circle ; 
but the failure of the big image " down east," will likely 
retard development for a while in the former particular. 

Some account of this big image may not be uninterest- 
ing, as it will not only make manifest the tendency of 
modern Spiritualism, but demonstrate the fact, that there 
is no amount of blasphemy or absurdity which may not 
receive its patronage. 

The Rev. John M. Spear, a quondam Universalist, now 
the Boston seer, at the instigation of spirits, persuaded 
the Spiritualists of Boston to join him in constructing a 
large image in the shape of a man, which cost some two 
thousand dollars. This was to be the grand apparatus 
for spiritual communication, erected on High Rock, Lynn, 
Mass., and, mirabile dictu ! as the following quotation 
shows, was to be animated by a soul brought forth by a 
lady medium ! ! ! 

We quote from Mr. Capron's book, pp. 220-224 : 

" Among some of the hasty conclusions to which many 
of the over-zealous friends of Spiritualism have arrived, 
none seem to me to present a stronger case than that of 
what was termed the ' new motive power.' The reader 
will get some idea of its origin by the following account 
which appeared in the Boston New Era, June 29th, 
1854. The story is certainly a very singular one, and 
should not be varied from the way it was originally told. 
It is as follows : 

" ' 1. It was announced to Mrs. , by spiritual 

intelligence, several months since, that she would become 
a mother in some new sense ; that she would be " the 
Mary of a new dispensation." The announcement was 
given under circumstances the most impressive, and in 
connection with a most beautiful and instructive vision, 
in which was strikingly elucidated a most important 
spiritual lesson, namely, the true significance of the cross, 
as an emblem of spiritual advancement. All who were 



168 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

present on the occasion were deeply impressed with the 
superior capacities and exalted moral attainments of the 
intelligences communicating, as evidenced by the pro- 
found and comprehensive character of their teachings. 
Nevertheless, the prophecy or announcement spoken of, 
though declared with marked emphasis, and directed to 
be put on record, was not believed to have any peculiar 
meaning. It was thought to refer possibly to the ma- 
ternal feeling which she had felt toward individuals, who 
had, through her instrumentality, been instructed in the 
truths of the new philosophy. Least of all was there the 
slightest hint that it had. any relation whatever to the 
mechanism then constructing at High Rock. No one 
connected with that enterprise was present, and nothing 
was known of this declaration by them until it was re- 
called by the events which subsequently transpired. 

'"2. Previously to this, Mrs. had for some time 

experienced certain sensations and agonies similar to 
those attendant upon gestation. Subsequently, these in- 
dications gradually increased, until they at length became 
very marked and inexplicable, and presented some very 
singular characteristics. They were supposed, however, 
to be at least partially indicative of disease ; but were not 
imagined to have the remotest connection with either the 
mechanism at High Rock, or with the prophecy which 
has been alluded to. As the crisis approached, a variety 
of singular events, from apparently independent causes, 
(which can not be narrated here,) seemed to point to some 
unusual result, though all failed to give any person cog- 
nizant of them the slightest apprehension of the nature of 
that result. 

" ' 3. At length a request came, through the instru- 
mentality of J. M. Spear, that on a certain day she would 
visit the tower at High Rock. No one in the flesh — her- 
self least of all — had any conception of the object of this 
visit. When there, however, (suitable preparations hav- 
ing been carefully made by superior direction, though 
their purpose was incomprehensible,) she began to expe- 
rience the peculiar and agonizing sensations of parturition, 
differing somewhat from the ordinary experience, inas- 
much as the throes were internal, and of the spirit rather 



THE BIG IDOL. 169 

than of the physical nature, but nevertheless quite as 
uncontrollable, and not less severe than those pertaining 
to the latter. This extraordinary physical phenomenon 
continued for about the space of two hours. Its purpose 
and results were wholly incomprehensible to all but her- 
self; but her own perceptions were clear and distinct that 
in these agonizing throes the most interior and refined 
elements of her spiritual being were imparted to, and 
absorbed by, the appropriate portions of the mechanism 
— its minerals having been made peculiarly receptive by 
previous chemical processes. This seemed no more ab- 
surd or unphilosophical than the well-known fact . that a 
gold ring, or any other article worn about the person, 
becomes impregnated to a degree with spiritual emana- 
tions, or that the elements of one's being can be and are 
imparted to an autograph so fully that the character, ca- 
j)acities, etc., may be psychometrized therefrom. 

" ' 4. The result of this phenomenon was, that indica- 
tions of life or pulsation became apparent in the mechan- 
ism ; first to her own keenly sensitive touch, and soon 
after to the eyes of all beholders. These pulsations con- 
tinued to increase, under a process, which she was im- 
pelled to continue for some weeks, precisely analogous to 
that of nursing, (for which preparation had previously 
been made in her own organization, while she was in 
utter ignorance of any such design,) until at times a very 
marked and surprising motion resulted. 

" ' 5. At every step in these singular transactions, Mrs. 

has been attended by angelic intelligences, (whose 

presence is perceived by her own interior senses,) who 
have from- time to time explained the rationale of their 
proceedings and of her experiences, and unfolded, in 
various departments of science, philosophy, and morals, 
principles and truths of the highest practical moment to 
us and to mankind. These teachings have been, to a 
great extent, based upon, and elucidated by, the various 
experiences connected with that mechanism ; and they 
have been not only profound and comprehensive, intel- 
lectually considered, but of the highest, purest, and most 
elevating moral and spiritual character. That these in- 
telligences have infused into her spirit a most beautiful, 



170 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

harmonizing, celestial influence, has been perceived by all 
who have enjoyed communication with her, and none of 
these, I feel assured, will hesitate to endorse the admis- 
sion that " she gets a large influx of superior, saving, 
harmonizing truths." 

" ' In order to a proper estimate of the peculiar expe- 
riences thus described, a large class of correlative physio- 
logical and psychological facts, which can not be even 
hinted at here, need to be considered by the candid 
investigator ; but the foregoing statements are believed 
to embrace what is sufficient for the present purpose, 
namely, the correction of erroneous statements which 
have gone abroad. 

" ' With two or three remarks I conclude. 

'"1. As these experiences were wholly unexpected, and 
unimagined by the subject of them, until they actually 
transpired, they could not have been " psychologically 
produced." Her mind did not act, either in conjunction 
with other minds or independent of them, to bring about 
these results. Theories must conform to facts. 

" ' 2. These experiences were not moulded into the 
peculiar form they took, by any previous religious or the- 
ological impressions. Because, first, no impressions of 
this peculiar character had ever existed ; and whatever 
notions had once been entertained of the miraculous con- 
ception of Jesus, had long ago given place to more philo- 
sophical conclusions. Secondly, no idea of such results 
had ever been formed in the mind, and hence there exist- 
ed nothing which could mould these results. 

" ' 3. As " corrupt trees do not bring forth good fruit," 
nor "the same fountain send forth bitter waters and 
sweet," it is difficult to believe that an " influx of superior, 
saving, harmonizing truths" will flow from delusive or 
deceptive sources. 

" ' 4. Neither Mrs. nor myself can profess to 

have, as yet, any definite conception as to what this " new- 
born child," the so-called " Electrical Motor," is to be. 
However " enthusiastic" or "extravagant" may be the ex- 
pectations of others, we do not know that we yet at all 
comprehend the ultimate designs of the intelligences en- 
gaged in it. Time will probably solve that matter, and 



THE BIG IDOL. 171 

we willingly abide the decision. But the incalculable 
benefits which have already accrued to us in the unfold- 
ings of the interior principles of physical and human 
science, and in leading to higher and purer moral and 
spiritual attainments, have overwhelmingly compensated 
for all that it has cost us, whether in means or reputa- 
tion ; and this consideration forces upon our minds and 
hearts a conviction of the probability, at least, that still 
further benefit may be realized from the same source. 

" ' Whatever may be the result, therefore, my position 
is such that neither disappointments nor regrets may 

ensue ; and the friends of Mrs. may be assured 

that her convictions of duty rest upon a basis which 
neither the opinions nor the ridicule of the uninformed 
can affect, while her spirit is serenely sustained against 
the shafts of calumny and detraction.' 

" Comment on the subject is hardly necessary. Quite 
a number of persons, of great intelligence, candor, and 
unimpeachable character, fully believed in this second 
edition of the miraculous conception and birth, and the 
most unbounded enthusiasm was manifested by many. 
It was denominated ' The New Motive Power, Physical 
Saviour, Heaven's Last Best Gift to Man, New Creation, 
The Great Spiritual Revelation of the Age, The Philoso- 
pher's Stone, the Art of all Arts, The Science of all Sci- 
ences,' and various other extravagant epithets were ap- 
plied to this wonderful new birth. Like many other 
productions of persons whose zeal outstrips their know- 
ledge, the new-born miracle was not quite practical 
enough to suit this utilitarian age. Notwithstanding the 
labor and pains of parturition at and before its birth, a 
slight defect was discoverable. The new motor would 
not move to any purpose 1 This was the only drawback 
on its great benefits to mankind. 

" The machine itself was constructed at High Rock, 
Lynn, Mass. ; but several of the prominent accoucheurs 
were residents of Boston, and the record is entitled to a 
place in the Boston chapter." 

We hesitated some time about the propriety of record- 
ing this horrible relation of facts, but as we are writing for 



172 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

those who yet have all their wits about them, and for 
those who may not have advanced so far in the delusion 
as to be beyond recall, we here put it down as the trans- 
parency which our Spiritualists themselves have placed 
over the door of their system, indicative of its essential 
heatheuism, and damnable design. 

The conclusion, then, to which we come, is this : 

OUR NEW LIGHT IS OLD DARKNESS. 

From the early period when Jannes and Jambres op- 
posed Moses down to the era of Christianity, and thence 
to the present time, in the dark domain of heathenism, 
necromancy in its various forms has everywhere prevail- 
ed. Superstition and spiritual delusion have benighted 
and besotted the souls of men. All this is the legitimate 
growth of guilt and the running commentary upon human 
depravity. 

By the contrast we have drawn, it will be seen that 
there is a family likeness between the pretensions and the 
employments of ancient and modern media, sufficiently 
exact to establish an identity between heathenism and 
modern Spiritualism. This will be more evident in a sub- 
sequent chapter, in which we shall show, that the doc- 
trines taught in the publications of our Spiritualists, are 
heathenish in their nature, antichristian in their form, 
and soul-destroying in their tendency. 

Therefore it follows that the Devil and his angels are 
the primary agencies in the work of modern Spiritualism, 
whose avowed purpose is the destruction of the Church 
and of " popular theology." This, we think, must be ad- 
mitted by every believer in the Bible, because it is just 
such a work as the Devil would do — we can not think of 
any thing else he would so readily aim to accomplish. 
Every Christian must grant this, and this being granted, 



THE PRIMARY AGENTS. 173 

we do not see how it can be denied, that in these last 
days, " seducing spirits" are now actually doing, by 
means of modern Spiritualism, the very thing that proves 
our position true. We think we can take all arguments 
brought against it, and show logically that those who play 
them off, do not believe in any, spiritual agency whatever 
brought to bear upon the minds of men, from above or 
from beneath. 



Hi A THREE-FOLD TEST. 



CHAPTER IV. 

" The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 
—1 Pet. 5 : 8. 

DEMONOLOGY. 

First Inquiry— Iamblichus — Apuleius— Second Inquiry— Josephus— Justin 
Martyr — Origen — Lardner — A Canon of Criticism — New Testament Use 
of Demon — Pythian Apollo — A non sequitur— Christ's Use of the "Word 
Demon— Possession a literal Fact; — An Objection — How the Fathers un- 
derstood it — Another Objection— The Alternative. 

Theee is no subject in the Scriptures beset with greater 
difficulties than that of demoniacal possession. There is 
no mere question of fact, which has more severely taxed 
the mind of the expositor, or has elicited more earnest 
discussion. A long array of arguments is presented on 
each side of the question — "Were those unfortunate per- 
sons called demoniacs in the New Testament, actually 
possessed and inhabited by spirits called demons f Were 
the souls of such thus demonized, actually subverted, 
beaten down, oppressed, and fettered by evil spirits en- 
tering into the human body, and using its organism for 
their own wicked purposes ? 

The writer has heretofore thought that the balance of 
argument was in favor of the negative ; his reason has 
been already given. But he has been induced to change 
his opinion by a more diligent scrutiny of the facts con- 
nected with the demonism of the New Testament, by 



WHAT A DEMON IS. IV 5 

some of the phenomena of modern Spiritualism, and by 
others, observed and described by competent and truth- 
fid witnesses, that have occurred in more modern times, 
among heathen nations as well as Christian. 

A brief discussion of Demonology may not be out of 
place in this volume, since the great feature of modern 
Spiritualism is an alleged intercourse with the spirits of 
the dead. 

I. What is meant by a demon? We must answer 
this by showing what the heathen understood by that 
term, and what is the inference to be drawn from its 
New Testament use. 

Iamblichus on the Mysteries, informs us, that " He who 
directs his attention to the analogous sameness which 
exists in superior natures, as, for instance, in the many 
genera of the gods, and again in demons and heroes, and, 
in the last place, in souls, will be able to define their 
peculiarities." 

He says, that the " good itself'''' is the " illustrious pecu- 
liarity of the gods ;" that " in souls, essential good is not 
present ;" " but the other medium, which is suspended 
from the gods, though it is far inferior to them, is that 
of demons." " These middle genera give completion to 
the common bond of the gods and souls, and cause the 
connection of them to be indissoluble." " Demons exist 
prior to souls and to the powers which are distributed 
about bodies." He admits that there is " a certain genus 
of demons, which is naturally fraudulent, omniform, 
and various, and which assumes the appearance of gods, 
and demons, (good ones,) and the souls of the deceased.'''' 

Iambhchus therefore makes a distinction between 
demons and the souls of the dead, which other great 
men of heathen lore do not seem to recognize. He 
teaches that evil demons assume the appearance of the 



176 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

souls of the deceased. This is really an embarrassing cir- 
cumstance, and as there is no sufficient means 'within 
their power of detecting these impostors, our Spiritualists, 
after all, may he made the game of devils ! 

Apuleius, de Deo Socratis, says: "There are certain 
divine powers of a middle nature, situate in this interval 
of the ah-, between the highest ether and the earth below, 
through whom our aspirations and our deserts are con- 
veyed to the gods. These the Greeks call by name ' de- 
mons,' and being placed as messengers between the in- 
habitants of earth and those of heaven, they carry from 
the one to the other, prayers and bounties, supplications 
and assistance, being a kind of interpreters and message- 
carriers for both. Through these same demons, as Plato 
says in his Symposium, all revelations, the various mira- 
cles of magicians, and all kinds of presages, are carried 
on." 

" Demons are intermediate between us and the gods, 
both in the place of their habitation, and in their nature. 
... To embrace the nature of them in a definition, 
demons are, as to genus, animated beings ; as to mind, 
rational ; as to feelings, passive; as to body, aerial; as to 
duration, eternal." {Idem) 

" There is also another species of demons, namely the 
human soul, after it has performed its duties in the 
present life, and quitted the body : I find that this 
is called in the ancient Latin language by the name of 
Lemur. Now of these Lemures, the one who, under- 
taking the guardianship of his posterity, dwells in a house 
with propitious and tranquil influence, is called the fami- 
liar Lar. But those who, having no fixed habitation of 
their own, are punished with vague wandering, as with a 
land of exile, on account of the evil deeds of their life, 
are usually called Larvae, thus becoming a vain terror to 



WHAT A DEMON IS. 177 

the good, but a source of punishment to the had. But 
where it is uncertain what is the allotted condition of any- 
one of these, and whether it is Lar, or Larva, it is called 
a god Manes ; the name of god being added for the sake 
of honor. For those only are called gods, who, being of 
the number of the Lemures, and having regulated the 
course of then life justly and prudently, have afterwards 
been celebrated by men as divinities, and are universally 
worshipped with temples and religious rites ; such, for in- 
stance, as Amphiaraus in Boeotia, Mopsus in Africa, 
Osiris in Egypt, and others in other nations, but Escula- 
pius everywhere. All this distribution, however, has 
been made of those demons who once existed in a human 
body." 

" But there is another species of demons, more exalt- 
ed and august, not fewer in number, but far superior in 
dignity, who, being for ever liberated from the bonds and 
conjunction of the body, preside over certain powers. 
. . . From this more elevated order of demons, Plato is 
of opinion that a peculiar demon is aUotted to every man, 
to be a witness and a guardian of his conduct in life, 
who, without being visible to any one, is always present, 
and is an overseer not only of his actions but of his 
thoughts." {Idem) 

Multiplied quotations are needless, for the above is 
from the highest authority among heathen writers. 

It will be seen that there were acknowledged to be 
two kinds of demons. The last, mentioned by Apuleius, 
were intermediate beings between the gods and men ; 
the " middle genera" of Iamblichus. The first, or the 
souls of the dead, were called Lemures, which were divid- 
ed into two classes, namely, the Lares, or household gods, 
who were supposed to be guardian spirits, and good 
8* 



1*78 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

demons ; and Larvaz, or evil spirits, who were a source of 
j)unishment to the bad. 

Farmer quotes Crito, to prove that the Larvati were 
demoniacs possessed by the larvw, or evil spirits, of bad 
men — the human ghosts of such as had lived profligate 
lives upon the earth. 

II. Were the demoniacs actually possessed ? and if so, 
were they possessed by the spirits of dead men ? 

At the time of Christ, this was no doubt the prevailing 
opinion. Josephus says : " Demons are no other than 
the spirits of the wicked, that enter into men and kill 
them, unless they can obtain some help against them." 
Philo says that " the souls of dead men are called 
demons." 

Justin Martyr, who flourished about the middle of the 
second century, speaks of those who were seized and 
tormented by the souls of the dead, whom all call demoniacs 
and madmen ? 

Origen says, of the heathen oracles : " Though they 
may be for the most part true, it does not necessarily follow 
that any deity presides in them, but rather evil demons 
and spirits inimical to the human race" — " demons the 
whole tribe of whom are vicious." ( Contra Celsitm, Kb. 
viii.) 

Thus Pagan, Jewish, and Christian authorities prove, 
not only that the common opinion was that men were 
possessed, but that it everywhere prevailed, assigning this 
demoniacal tyranny to the souls of the wicked dead. "The 
notion of demons," says Lardner, vol. viii., p. 368, "or 
the souls of dead men having the power over living men, 
was universally prevalent among the heathens, and was 
believed by many Christians," such as Justin, Irenseus, 
Origen, and others. 

Now it is a canon of criticism well understood, and 



WHAT A DEMON IS. 179 

evidently correct: Every word whose meaning is well 
established in any age, when used by any writer of that 
age, and not defined by him, must be taken in its com- 
monly received acceptation by the age in which that 
toriter lived. 

This rule obliges us to believe that Christ admitted as 
a fact, that men were possessed by demons; but it does 
not oblige us to believe that he considered these demons 
the souls of the dead ; because the word demon was 
used to embrace, besides these, those personifying spirits, 
" naturally fraudulent, omniform, and various," of which 
IambUchus makes mention. 

The word demon is never used by Christ in a good 
sense, nor by his apostles, nor by any historical writer of 
the New Testament, unless it be in the way of narrative, 
as in Acts 17:18. Whatever weight may be assigned to 
the argument, that Christ, from motives of prudence, 
abstained from attacking in public, the common notion 
about demons, it can not be pretended that this could 
influence him in his private instructions to his disciples. 
In Mat. 17, we are told that " Jesus rebuked the demon' 1 '' 
after his disciples had failed to expel him. " Then camo 
the disciples to Jesus, apart, and said ; Why could we not 
cast him out ? And he said unto them, Because of 
your unbelief; howbeit this kind goeth not out but by 
prayer and fasting." 

Here it is very evident that Christ volunteers a piece 
of instruction relating to actual possession by demons, to 
his disciples in private, after he had answered their ques- 
tion. Would he, whose object it was to teach them all 
truth, by private instruction, confirm them in a popular 
error, if actual possession was such ? They had fully im- 
bibed the common belief respecting the power of demon- 
izing spirits over the souls of certain men ; they had heard 



180 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

their Master address the demons in their own person- 
ality ; and when accused by the Pharisees of expelling 
demons by the aid of the Devil, then- prince, they heard 
him expose their sophistry, by showing that the Devil 
could not be thought so foolish as to promote discord in 
his own kingdom ; and hence the known reality of the 
Devil would lead them to suppose Christ admitted also 
the reality of his demons, and of their influence, which 
was the subject of discussion. When we add to this the 
matter of his private instruction, the argument for actual 
possessions seems to be a very unmanageable one, pro- 
vided it can not be shown to involve an essential ab- 
surdity. 

That it involves no absurdity, is evident from the case 
mentioned in Acts : "It came to pass, that as we went 
to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of 
divination, met us. The same followed Paul and us, and 
cried, saying, These men are servants of the Most High 
God, which show unto us the way of salvation. Paul, 
being grieved, turned and said unto the spirit, I com- 
mand thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of 
her, and he came out the same hour." 

The original is, " a spirit of Pythian Apollo." That 
there is no such a being as Apollo every one admits ; but 
because this heathen divinity was reputed to utter oracles 
by the frenzied priestess at Delphi, every " clairvoyante" 
was said to be possessed by his spirit. This circumstance, 
by itself, does not prove her to have been a demoniac, but 
the facts that Paul commanded the spirit to come out, 
and that the spirit obeyed, as in all cases of dispos- 
session by Christ, clearly shows that she was really a 
demoniac. Nothing is said of any disease, or of any 
violent conduct attending her. She was a travelling 
medium, the slave of certain men who made money by 



A TEAVELLING MEDIUM. 181 

the imposture. There was a "prophesying demon''' in 
her, and Paul set her free from him. If this be not so, 
how came he to use the same formula of exorcism that 
was used in those cases where the word demon occurs ? 
This is, beyond doubt, as clear a case of actual possession 
as any other mentioned in the sacred narrative. 

This fact is conceded, and also urged to prove that, as 
she was simply insane, so all other instances of casting out 
demons were nothing more than curing diseases. Sup- 
posing this to be the case, what shall we do with that 
instance, where Jesus rebuked the evil spirit (disease) who 
had uttered his name; and where it is said "he (the disease) 
came out of him and hurt him not"? This, surely, is a 
very extraordinary remark. Is it a marvellous thing that 
a man should not be hurt by being cured? Such a re- 
mark, supposing nothing more intended than restora- 
tion to health, is an unfortunate one for the doctrine of 
inspiration, and therefore refutes itself. 

But there is another case worth our notice, in the con- 
sideration of this subject. Our Lord cast a demon out of 
a person afflicted also with disease, and " the spirit cried 
out and rent him sore, and came out of him, and he was 
as one dead, insomuch that many said he was dead." If 
the term spirit here means a literal demon with which, 
he was possessed, there is no difficulty. If not, it must 
mean either a disease or his own soul. In either case, the 
passage is bereft of sense. The disease cried out, or the 
man came out of himself! 

Farmer makes use of this argument : " The sacred 
writers having given us no notice of their using the word 
demon in a new or peculiar sense, did certainly employ it 
in reference to possessions, in the same sense which others 
did," and hence he argues, as Christ and his apostles 
neither believed in the gods of the heathen, nor in the 



182 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

transmigration of a soul or spirit from one body to an- 
other, they could have meant only the removal of disor- 
ders popularly attributed to demons. But this is a non 
sequitur. The argument, when fairly stated, is this : Pa- 
gans, Jews, and the early Christians used the term demons . 
to mean pagan gods or the souls of the dead. Christ and 
the apostles did not use the term in any new sense, there- 
fore they used it to signify pagan gods or human souls ! 
The falsity of the logical inference shows that the premises 
are wrong. 

We have shown that the term demon meant also evil 
spirits superior to mankind, and who never inhabited 
human bodies, and as Christ did not believe in their gods 
or their transmigrations of souls, he must have meant 
these evil spirits, for the word demon he never used in a 
good sense. Among the heathen it was understood that 
there were both good and bad demons, and were it 
simply said in the New Testament that demoniacs were 
possessed with demons, we could not then absolutely say 
they were under bad influences, because the nature of the 
spirits would have been undetermined, although their 
being cast out would argue badly for their character. 
But we are not left in any doubt here : they were called 
evil spirits and unclean spirits, and their work proved 
them such, therefore Christ and the apostles treated them 
as such. When a person is said to be demonized in the 
Scripture, the derangement of mind and body as the ef- 
fect, proceeding from a demon as the proximate cause, is 
intended ; and in every case the common use of the term 
allowed our Saviour to understand an evil spirit, an evil 
angel, without formally stating the meaning he attached 
to it, or specifying the exact sense in which he under- 
stood it. 

We therefore believe that demoniacal possessions were 



K. T. USE OP DEMON. 183 

literal facts, originated by the Devil remotely, and by his 
angels or demons immediately, and although the argu- 
ments against this position are very plausible, we do not 
think they can be so presented or pressed as to over- 
turn it. 

An objection to this view has been raised, on the ground 
that there never have been such possessions by demons 
before or since the time of Christ, or anywhere but in 
the land of Judea. We do not think that such is the 
fact. On the contrary, it is clear that possessions existed 
long before his time by the testimony of Josephus, for the 
Jews had a class among them known as exorcists, whose 
profession it was to cast out demons ; and that the pos- 
sessions of our Saviour's time were not different from 
those that previously existed, is proved by his argumen- 
tum ad hominem, which reduced his enemies to silence, 
when they accused him of deriving his power in this par- 
ticular from the prince of the demons. And that these 
phenomena existed beyond the limits of the sphere of his 
labors, and also after he left it, is proved by the relation 
in Acts, of certain vagabond Jews, who attempted to expel 
demons, or evil spirits, in the name of Jesus, in the city of 
JEphesics. Whether these Jewish exorcists were all impos- 
tors, or whether then* process of ejecting demons was sue- 
cessful or not, we are not called upon to determine. What 
we wish to establish is, that possessions were not peculiar 
to our Saviour's time nor to the land of Canaan. Demon- 
ology was the great foundation on which the whole super- 
structure of heathenism was erected, and it is, therefore, 
a useless waste of time to produce quotations, to prove 
what no person competent to judge will pretend to 
deny. 

Farmer says : " To some persons it may appear strange 
that possessions should be ascribed by many of the fathers, 



184 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

after the time of Justin Martyr, to fallen angels. The 
following considerations, perhaps, may in some measure 
account for their conduct : 

" Several philosophers taught that the heathen demons 
were evil spirits of a rank superior to mankind, and that 
these demons personated the souls of the dead, gods and 
genii, and procured themselves to he worshipped under 
their names. 

" The fathers ascribed to these celestial demons, what- 
ever the heathen in general attributed to their deified 
ghosts, and consequently accounted for possessions, with- 
out referring them to human spirits." 

From this it appears that some demons were, by the 
highest authority among the heathen, considered of a 
rank superior to mankind. That they were all considered 
by the Jews to be wicked spirits is certain. Now Christ 
and his apostles were Jews. They appear to have em- 
braced the common opinion that demons were wicked 
spirits. "Whatever ambiguity might be in the naked 
term among the heathen, there was none in the opinion 
of the Jews, Luke 1 :21, "In the same hour he cured 
many of their infirmities and plagues (embracing aU man- 
ner of natural disease), and of evil spirits.'''' 8 : 2, The 
evangelist speaks of " certain women who had been healed 
of evil spirits and infirmities," among whom is Mary Mag- 
dalene, " out of whom went seven demons; " and " when 
Christ called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them 
power against unclean spirits, to cast them out,' and to 
heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease? 
Mat. 10:1. 

Here we are taught very explicitly, that the casting 
out of demons was not the healing of any form of 
mere disease at all, but a dislodgment of evil spirits from 
persons over whom they had obtained a controlling power. 



AN OBJECTION ANSWERED. 185 

This instruction was given in private, and as Christ, who did 
not believe in the gods and ghosts of paganism, would not 
confirm his disciples in the belief of popular error, there is 
seemingly no alternative left but to adopt this statement 
as a literal fact : he conferred the power of casting out 
the angels of the devil, whom the use of the term allowed 
him to regard as the veritable demons of paganism. 

Agreeably to this the fathers taught. " St. Chrysos- 
tom admits that the demons in the possessed persons pre- 
tended that they were the souls of such or such a monk, 
but himself asserts that it was the Devil that personated 
the ghosts of those who suffered a- violent death, and 
hereby caused men to think they became demons," etc. 
(Farmer on Dem., p. 51.) 

It is, however, not very creditable to this writer, that 
he labors to disparage the fathers to gain his point by 
saying, "It appears that they, themselves, doubted or 
disbelieved the reality of possessions, though they assert- 
ed it in their popular discourses!" (p. 56.) 

The result, then, to which we come, is this : Although 
departed spirits were commonly caUed demons, among 
the heathen, there was another class of evil spirits, 
who were superior to mankind, so called, and therefore 
the common acceptation of the term does not oblige us to 
suppose that Christ used it in the former sense ; and as he 
always used it in a bad sense, and can not be supposed to 
have countenanced the idea of human souls returning to 
possess the bodies of the living, he must have used it in 
a sense fully expressed above, in Chrysostom. 

Another objection against this view is, that there are no 
possessions at the present day, as there have been none 
since the primitive times of Christianity. To this wo 
answer: 

1. If we have shown logically that Christ did teach the 



186 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

reality of possessions, it is not an incredible thing that 
similar phenomena should take place again, and that 
with such modifications and adaptations, in the fact of 
obsessions, as would be thought best by the evil one to 
subserve his own designs. 

2. It is by no means certain that actual possessions or 
obsessions have not taken place from age to age, ever 
since the time of Christ. The generality of men will 
probably show great incredulity on this point. But who 
so competent to decide as physicians ? Oldshausen says : 
" It must not be forgotten that eminent medical men are 
of a different opinion •# for example, Esquirol in Paris. Ker- 
ner's views are well known on the subject. The missionary 
Rheinus gives a remarkable account of a demoniac in the 
East Indies in the year 1817." (Yol. i., p. 275, note.) 

Beyond a doubt these instances are rare, but they show 
that what has more frequently occurred may as frequent- 
ly occur again. Well-authenticated facts outweigh 
plausible theories. 

Not a few physicians of the present day declare, that 
the phenomena of modern Spiritualism can be accounted 
for on no other ground than that of spirit agency. Not 
only the physical manifestations, but the intelligence 
which comes through them, and must come from intellect, 
prove this, as they think, and consequently they have 
become Spiritualists. Of course they think that both good 
and bad spirits are engaged in this business; but this 
opinion is not based upon their medical and scientific 
knowledge; therefore we are not to consider their 
opinion upon the character of the spirits as commanding 
as that which decides upon their existence and opera- 
tion in this movement. 

Now we are perfectly aware that it is not only unwise, 
but superstitious and hurtful, to assign any strange fact 



WHAT IS PROVED. 187 

to demoniacal influence, if we can present a plausible 
natural cause likely to produce it ; but we also believe 
that a pertinacious denial of such influence, as a fact 
possible and likely to occur, argues a real disbelief 
in any personal spiritual agency whatever, such as oc- 
curs in every case of renovation of heart, though the 
objector would not acknowledge it, either to himself or 
others. If our argument, from what professed spirits do 
and say, in the movements and influences of modern 
Spiritualism, can be shown to be worthless for the sup- 
port of our theory, then we stand ready to prove, by the 
same method of showing, that the agency of the Spirit 
of God in regeneration, and the ministrations of angels 
to the heirs of salvation, should also be denied, upon the 
same ground. No Christian will assume this position ; 
and by the very arguments he uses to support his belief in 
the influence of the Spirit of God upon his own heart, we 
think consistency will demand his acceptance of our view, 
after he has finished the sequel. 



188 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 



CHAPTER V. 

" "What mountains of delusion men have reared ! 
How every age hath bustled on to build 
Its shadowy mole— its monumental dream !"— Festus. 

the second test of spiritualism. 

"life dt the sphekes." 

Internal Evidence of Spirit Literature— Failure of Proffered Test— Fatal 
Admissions— Inconsistencies and Contradictions of Spirits — Swedenborg 
and Bacon — Heaven not minutely described in the Bible— Reason for it 
— Spiritualism offers to supply the Deficiency — The Spheres — Sweden- 
borg's Account of his Exit— Condition of Spirits— Spirit Farmers— Priests 
in the Bad Place— Invective against Priests— Joy in Heaven over the 
Judge's Letter— Its Contents— The Judge caught up in the Spheres, and 
sees a Saw-Mill— His View of the Cross— He is honored in the Spirit 
"World — Treated to a Ride — He is in the Bad Place— The Judge a Re- 
deemer — " John Anderson my Joe !" — A Knot of Priests — The Judge 
taken to the Moon — Pythagoras' Account — A Christian in a bad Plight 
— Pythagoras' Discourse— No Culprits— Sum of the whole Matter — 
Supernal Eloquence of Spirit Channing — Estimate of all these Matters — 
"Apocatastasis" quoted — Heaven distinguished from the Spheres — 
Elysium — Mohammedan Gardens — Modern Spiritualism an Improve- 
ment upon them. 

In our estimation of the claims of Spiritualism, we are 
not obliged to trust to appearances. Reason and conscience 
are placed upon the bench, by the great Author of our 
being, as the judges by whose decision all things pertain- 
ing to the interests of our humanity are to be accepted or 
rejected. He can not be the author of a revelation that 



INTERNAL EVIDENCE. 189 

they would instinctively reject. If any system contain 
palpable absurdities, clearly irreconcilable contradictions, 
or injunctions repugnant to the moral feelings of our na- 
ture, it is unnecessary to examine any evidence of its 
divine origin, for no evidence can outweigh our own 
innate perception of incongruities, absurdities, and false- 
hood. Whatever deserves immediate rejection by the 
verdict of reason and conscience, can not be received on 
any amount of evidence that may be presented. If an 
intelligence from another world should satisfy me, beyond 
all my powers of dispute, of his spirit existence and 
presence, and insist that two and two make five, I 
must reject him as a liar; or if he give me a commu- 
nication repugnant to my conscience, conflicting with 
my reason, offensive to my moral feeling, and irreconcila- 
ble with itself, I must reject him with disdain as a vile 
impostor. But besides this, such must be the harmony 
of the revelation with itself, and with the source whence 
it professes to come, and with my reason and conscience, 
that the supposition of its not coming from the alleged 
source, would necessarily involve me in a greater incon- 
sistency than the contrary could do ; that is, its rejection 
would be more absurd than its reception, no matter what 
might be the difficulties I should feel about the latter. 
This is what is meant by internal evidence. By this test 
we shall now try the claims of Spiritualism. 

It. will be seen, by the contents of our second chapter, 
that in the application of its' own proffered test for the 
" conversion of skeptics," notwithstanding the confident 
boast that " the spiritual theory can stand all tests," in 
every instance of rappings and tippings, there was not 
only failure, but absurdity so glaringly inconsistent with 
intelligence as to justify the belief, that to whatever other 
cause they may be assigned, they are not attributable to 



190 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

the spirits of our departed friends ; for it is clear, that by 
the same power a spirit has to give correct affirmative 
answers to questions put in a given form, it can as easily 
and as certainly give correct negative answers to the 
same questions reversed. And inasmuch as the test em- 
ployed is to ascertain the reality of spirit communication, 
and as we are told the spirits desire to be tested, that 
they may in all cases have a fair opportunity to prove it, 
this power would certainly be used, in conformity with 
their desire, and with the intelligent variations of reply 
as required by that desire, if such spirit power as is claimed 
existed in these manifestations. The failure which is sure 
to follow the application of the proffered test, as made 
above, is a demonstration of the falsity of the pretense 
set up, which we do not see how our Spiritualists can get 
over. 

That each medium has a power or faculty by which these 
phenomena are exhibited, we fully believe. That it " is 
owing to physical organization," as Judge Edmonds says, 
" more than it is to moral causes," we also believe ; yet 
moral causes are not to be excluded ; for each medium 
has, or may have, " familiar spirits," competent to do, 
through his or her peculiar organization, all the rappings 
and tippings necessary to every personification ; but that 
the real spirits of our departed friends are the causes of 
them is proved to be a false pretense. 

While the Judge denies that there is " a distinct race 
of beings, known in the old theology as devils, and repre- 
sented as a creation distinct from and independent of the 
human family," he admits that there are spirits, " selfish, 
intolerant, cruel, malicious, and delighting in human suf- 
fering upon earth," " having, in common with others, the 
power of reaching mankind through this newly-developed 
instrumentality." He admits that " this influence displays 



A FALSE PRETENSE. 191 

itself in various forms, but scarcely ever without tending 
to impair confidence in the manifestations." He admits 
that " sometimes its fell purposes are most adroitly veiled 
under the cover of good intentions," " calm, considerate, 
and persevering." {Spiritualism, vol. ii., p. 42.) He 
admits that " there are false communications which are 
not intentionally so ; some arising from a mistake of the 
spirit who is communing, and some from the error of the 
medium, who has not yet so studied himself as to be able 
to distinguish the innate action of his own mind from 
the impress of spirit influence;'''' and that "the character 
of the mediumship is frequently changing in the same in- 
dividual, and that no two mediums are precisely alike. 
From this latter cause there must, of necessity, arise an 
effect producing some uncertainty." {Ibid., 43.) How 
much uncertainty he does not say. We think we shall 
prove it entire. 

Notwithstanding all this, he professes to be able to 
outwit these bad spirits. " We have," says he, " the con- 
solation of knowing that now we can be conscious of its 
presence, and guard against its approaches." How ? 
Thus : " By applying to it, as we do when weighing 
human testimony, the sagacity and searching power of 
our own reason. {Ibid., 42, 43.) We very much fear the 
Judge over-estimates his " sagacity." Can we be sure 
that his reason is not subject to hallucination, and to the 
deceptive influences he has mentioned, as much as that 
of other men ? Does he put in for himself a claim of in- 
faUibiHty ? This very confidence, we think, only the 
more exposes him to be deceived ; and we think we shall 
show, out of his own mouth, that this is the case. A man 
who writes that in a vision of the realities of another 
world, he visited a comfortable farm in the spheres, 
on which was a farm-house and a saw-mill, with all their 



192 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

appropriate appurtenances, and that " the matron invit- 
ed him to call on her again, and she would give him 
a drink of buttermilk (!) ", (Spiritualism, vol. ii., p. 144,) 
is the last man on earth to talk about " the sagacity and 
searching power of his own reason," and makes a most 
unreasonable demand, when he requires our assent to his 
vagaries. A deliberate publication of such things is very 
satisfactory evidence of hallucination, of the imputation 
of which, the Judge will find it difficult to get clear. 

But perhaps we shall be told, that in our experiments 
with the spirits, we did not concentrate the mind upon 
the aforesaid questions, and hence the discrepancy. To 
this, we reply, that being fully warned of the necessity 
of doing so, we did concentrate, slowly repeating in the 
mind word for word ; and our consciousness of success, 
in a quiet, unruffied state of collected thought, proves 
that such an explanation is not for a moment ad- 
missible. 

The only other explanation we can think of, is this: 
that deceiving spirits have misled us, purposely an- 
swering by contradictions. But this would be a begging 
of the question, so gross that it would seem a total sur- 
render ; for the assurances given us, already named, and 
our compliance with all necessary conditions for success, 
have taken away all right to any such plea ; and when we 
assert that these rappings and tippings are made in such a 
hap-hazard way, as to evince no intelligence at all, it can 
not be met by an assumption, after the proffered " test" 
has failed, in any case. 

But again ; we say, if spirits are the authors of the 
aforesaid contradictions, they are lting spirits, whose 
cunning and imposture can not be guarded against ; and 
that whenever, or however, we detect such contradic- 
tions, incongruities, and unseemly intellectual manifesta- 



THE BIBLE TEST. 193 

tions, we fix the character of the spirits as descriptive of 
those whose coming is foretold ha the New Testament : 
" Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter 
times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to 
seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons." (1 Tim. 
4:1.) We read, also, as descriptive of the latter times, 
of " the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and 
lying wonders," of " deceivableness of unrighteousness 
in them that perish ; because they received not the truth, 
that they might he saved, and for this cause God shall 
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a 
he ; that they all might be damned who believed not the 
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 
2 : 9-12.) In connection with the announcement of 
" perilous times in the last days," and descriptive of cer- 
tain characters of those times, it is said : " Evil men and 
seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and be- 
ing deceived." This is foUowed by a commendation of 
the Scriptures as our only guide. 

Now, whatever may be said by our Spiritualists of the 
Scriptures, it is evident by their own admissions, that 
these prophetic announcements are remarkably fulfilled 
by the mendacity of the spirits ; and that in this fulfill- 
ment, after the lapse of centuries, through the agency 
of this movement, we have an additional test in favor of 
the claims of the Bible which they repudiate, a little 
more powerful than any thing they can boast of. Other 
people will see it if they will not. 

Some of these admissions we have given, but there are 
others we must not pass over. 

" Our records," says the Judge, " show us beyond 
peradventure, that at times, ignorant, unprogressed, infe- 
rior, and sometimes positively mischievous spirits, do com- 
mune with us, through the instrumentahty of this inter- 
course." (Spirifacalism, vol. i., p. 47.) 



194 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

" I know of no mode of spiritual intercourse that is ex- 
empt from moral taint — no kind of mediumship where 
the communication may not be affected by the mind of 
.the instrument." [Spiritualism, vol. ii., p. 39.) 

" No two spirits seem to agree as to what is the truth, 
any more than two mortals !" {Modern Spiritualism, by 
Capron, p. 378.) 

" On the subject of the existence of a great First 
Cause we have no new proofs or revelations. The proba- 
bility is that spirits generally know but little, if any, more 
about how, where, or in what form the Deity exists, 
than we mortals. I see nothing in the new revelations 
that would, of necessity, lead an atheist to change his 
views. The most confirmed atheist may believe in im- 
mortality and be a refined Spiritualist. More than this, 
he can get his views sanctioned by the spirits as readily 
as the most devout believer in any of the thousand forms 
in which popular theology has clothed the Author of na- 
ture. The anthropomorphism of the Jews and most pro- 
fessing Christians, and the pantheism of the admirers of 
nature as God, may all find spirits — good spirits, too — to 
agree with them. I say good spirits, for I would not 
sanction the foUy of condemning spirits or men either for 
a difference of opinion, especially where no positive tangi- 
ble proof could be produced ! ! ! " {Idem, pp. 379, 380.) 

" Many ways need the strictest scrutiny, as it is diffi- 
cult to detect which is the spiritual and which an emana- 
tion from the mind of the medium. This is particularly 
the case with writing and speaking. So much can be 
done by the human mind without the aid of spirits, when 
in certain peculiar conditions, that it is not safe to say 
that spirits are writing or speaking, without the most 
positive proofs. Such proofs have been abundant, and 
the tests satisfactory to thousands. Still, much self-decep- 
tion exists in regard to mediumship, and through this 
many have been deceived, and many, seeing no proof of 
spiritual power, have left the investigations in disgust, 
unwilling to spend their time where assertions were given 
instead of proof, and where a nervous action was claim- 
ed to be the work of spirits out of the flesh." {Idem, 
pp. 381, 382.) 



RUINOUS ADMISSIONS. 195 

" Many Spiritualists, at the present day, being very 
zealous to advance their cause, sometimes think they see 
what they do not ; and, from a small beginning, often 
get up a marvellous story, and this, too, in perfect sincer- 
ity ! " (JST. T. Miracles, etc., by Fowler.) 

Think of that, Judge ; what proof have we of better 
authority for the " Visions " ? 

" In regard to Paul, and such great personages com- 
municating, I have to say that an observer of the mani- 
festations soon comes to regard with suspicion, spirits 
claiming to be such ; for that same vanity which often 
prompts men to pretend to something above themselves, 
likewise prompts spirits not unfolded in goodness and 
wisdom, to assume great names ; and the more because 
they are invisible, and can practise with considerable suc- 
cess upon the credulity of the unwary." (Reply to Dr. 
Zand, by Bland.) 

This, of course, refers to the personations of Bacon, 
Swedenborg, Webster, Washington, Calhoun, Clay, and 
others whose earthly fame is used by living spirits to 
gain eclat to their sounding periods. 

Confirmatory of this, comes forth Swedenborg himself, 
with this complaint : 

"It is not strange, that very many, either from an 
over-anxiety to commune or from a careless disregard of 
what they deem a trivial falsehood, assumed false names, 
and among all those who have been falsely personated; 
there has been no one more frequently so than Sweden- 
borg." " There are some who, for mischievous purposes, 
assume a false character, and teach false doctrine, to de- 
ceive and milsead." (Spiriticalism, vol. i., pp. 370, 371.) 

The last quotation is from a speech of the Baron, utter- 
ied through the Judge, as his mouth-piece ; and although 
t is doubtless claimed as proof of his identity, we take it 
to be an expert trick of some pseudo-Swedenborg, (unless 



196 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

it be laid at the door of clairvoyance,) " most adroitly- 
veiled under the cover of good intentions." How can it 
be disproved ? 

It will be remembered that the staple of both octavos, 
by the Judge and the Doctor, is professedly from Bacon 
and Swedenborg. This shall furnish our proof, that these 
gentlemen, whose sincerity we do not doubt, are grossly 
deceived that the internal evidence shows an unmistakable 
personation ; and that our Spiritualists have no means of 
rebutting the charge, in the face of the aforesaid admis- 
sions. 

We are perfectly willing to abide the issue of the test, 
when fairly applied, as laid down by Mr. Brittan, in this 
form : " We insist that the real character of the spirits 
is most clearly revealed in what they do and say, and 
that the declaration of Christ, on this point, is the law 
of nature : ' Wherefore, by their fruits shall ye know 
them.' " {Review of Beecher, p. 73.) This is certainly 
fair, for if their words and actions are not conformable to 
the doctrine of progression, of which we must judge by 
their known earthly attainments, they are to be set down 
as deceivers. As to their real character, from some 
things that they do, let us hear the author of " Familiar 
Spirits," Mr. " Veriphllos Credens," p. 49 : " I do be- 
lieve in evil spirits — in spirits as evil as mortals are — I 
believe there maybe those, who, like some human beings, 
delight in mischief and deception, and in all kinds of 
villany ever practised on earth ; and I can much more 
readily believe, that such spirits perform those deeds of 
mischief, which he (Br. Pond) speaks of — such as tearing 
clothes and destroying furniture — than that magnetism 
or electricity, even the detached vitalized, can do them. 

Now we insist that from all the manifestations yet 
made, we have no assurance but that every one of them 



RUINOUS ADMISSIONS. 197 

may be from the same source of evil. If these spirits 
" delight in all kinds of villany ever practised on earth," 
and if some kinds of villany on earth have been to 
deceive under the apparently pure garb of honesty, 
. and like western hunters using the mechanical bleat to 
entice the mother doe to a cleared spot where the fatal 
ball may reach her heart, betray the confiding by false 
pretenses, where is the assurance that every spirit 
demonstration having the appearance of good, is not 
thus made with the direst purpose of accomplishing 
in the long run some hellish end ? There is no security 
against this ; nay, it would seem to chime in exactly 
with the character of those who delight in " all kinds of 
villany." 

" But," it is asked, " if evil spirits can thus come to 
perplex and distress us, can any reason be assigned why 
good ones may not come to comfort and console us ?" 
{Ibid.) The author refers to our departed friends, and 
our answer is ready. They can not comfort or console, 
much less defend us ; for by the testimony of the Bible, 
when the dust returns to dust, "the spirit returns to 
God who gave it," and in all the biographies of the 
Bible, there is not a single instance of a mortal being 
revisited by a spirit relative, for this or any other purpose. 
Besides, God has provided better means for our consola- 
tion, and more efficient guards for our defense, if we ac- 
cept them. Hence, good spirits, who " rest from their 
labors," are to be troubled no more with the perplexi- 
ties of earth, assured that he who "hears the ravens when 
they cry" will take care of every dear one left behind. 
(2 Sam. 12 : 23.) 

As to the " real character of the spirits from what they 
sat," we shall mostly confine ourselves to the matter of 
the work on " Spiritualism," by the Judge and the Doc- 



198 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

tor, professedly the media of the spirits of Lord Bacon and 
Baron Swedenborg. And we do this the more readily, 
because of the contrast complacently drawn by the former 
of these media in his introduction to vol. ii. : 

" I could conceive of no reason why the humble and 
the lowly of this day could not as well become such 
instruments as the fishermen of Galilee, nor why the in- 
structed of modern thnes could not receive and impart 
of them as well as of him of Tarsus, of whom it was said, 
even from high places, that much learning had made him 
mad!" This is very cool, but however ambitious our 
author may be of rivalling the fame of Paul, we feel quite 
sure, that after the perusal of these volumes, no one will 
think of quoting the famous exclamation of Governor 
Felix as indicative of the cause of his mental alienation. 

To prove the spirit Swedenborg to be some personating 
demon, we have only to note his incongruities, and to 
quote him against himself. Thus he speaketh : 

1. " Say what men may, teach what men may teach, 
still the soul of man is apart of God himself" (Vol. i., p. 
10.) This is a manifest absurdity, whose implications are 
monstrous and blasphemous : for as man is a sinner, it 
covers the divine nature with human guilt ! " The soul 
that sinneth, it shall die ;" but the soul is a part of God 
himself, therefore that part of God that sinneth must die 2 
The communications of this spirit begin with the solemn 
announcement, "In the name of God, I am Swedenborg;" 
and on the very next page but one, utters this preposter- 
ous sentence : 

2. "The very intention of man's creation (a small one 
to be sure) was that man should understand both life and 
death ; by the fall (if indeed this be true) he lost the 
knowledge of death!" (P. 104.) 

" What you consider the fall of man, is only the great 



INCONGRUITIES. 199 

change in his mental and material nature, produced by 
the increase of numbers, the wants and necessities that 
arose around him, the occupation of his thoughts with the 
circumstances of his material condition, and the entire 
direction of his mind from spiritual things to the subjects 
of earth!" (P. 122.) 

These extracts give us the following precious truth : 
That part of God which is in man, lost the knowledge 
of death, simply by the increase of the human species 
with its multiplied necessities, thereby superinducing a 
change in man's mental and material nature. And if the 
doctrine of the fall be true, of which he is not certain, 
this is the fall ; in which, when man fell, God also fell in 
part ; because the soul is " a part of God himself" ! 

3. " The return of the soul to the source from which it 
emanated does not suppose it necessary that the Godhead, 
should absorb it within itself. This would be incompati- 
ble with his nature." (P. 109.) 

Spirits go on progressing "until they have passed 
beyond these spheres, and enter the glorious mansions of 
what we call heaven, but they scarce lose their material 
organization, sublimated, it is true, by every ascending 
step, as they rise in the circle of their progress, till at last 
materiality is swallowed up in spirituality, and they either 
become incorporated in the whole of the First Cause, or 
exist as I have said!" (P. 146.) 

Passing other matters of absurdity, in one extract, ab- 
sorption of souls in the God is said to be " incompatible 
with the divine nature ;" but in the other, it is altogether 
compatible, that they should be incorporated with God! 
This glaring contradiction comes from a spirit professedly 
from the highest sphere, who utters this untruth of him- 
self: "I had lived pure and unspotted, and when I left 
the world, I was ushered into what has been stated as the 
sixth sphere." (P. 174.) 



200 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

4. " Beyond the vision of the most powerful telescope 
there are world filled with spirits whose birth is for ever 
and ever!" (P. 107.) 

Well-ordered words these, for a progressed phi- 
losopher ! 

5. "When the mind attempts to separate the spirit 
from matter, it has just no conception of spirit. There- 
fore we can not invest the Creator with form ox personal- 
ity:' (P. 262. 

" If the identification of spirit with matter were un- 
folded to your minds, the whole mystery of the Great 
First Cause would he understood !" (P. 263.) 

Because spirit is identified with matter, therefore the 
Creator has no personality, and could this identification 
be unfolded, we could explain the nature of God ! Can 
the ravings of lunacy beat this ? 

6. Swedenborg must be an enemy to modern geology, 
for he says : " Take the soil from earth's ce?itre, and bring 
it to the surface, and it will germinate vegetation in some 
form as soon as it feels the fight and heat." (P. 264.) 

What have ye to say to that, ye maudlin race who are 
dreaming about the mysteries of Plutonic rock and fancied 
internal fires within the crust of the earth ? Know, hence- 
forth, that there is soil at the centre, and burn your books 
of fiction! 

7. The Baron was well acquainted with Scripture, when 
on earth ; but he must have in a measure lost his memory 
in the spheres, contrary to the doctrine of progression ; 
for he exhorts his media to mingle affections and aspira- 
tion together ; that together they may toander toward the 
mark of their high calling, (vol. i., p. 353;) and he makes 
a worse mistake in saying : " We can understand the 
teachings of Christ, where he says, ' Work out your own 
salvation with fear and trembling' " ! (Vol. ii., p. 171.) 



CONTRADICTIONS. 201 

8. " You have been taught that God is a principle.'''' 
(p. 343 :) and this principle " God, when he stamped the 
impress of his sentient particle (the soul) which came 
from him, endowed it with the almighty attributes of his 
nature" ! ! ! (Vol. ii., p. 355.) 

Such are some of the crudities of the spirit Swedenborg, 
and we submit it to the judgment of any clear-minded 
man whether any good spirit could be the author of such 
miserable trash. 

Now let us hear from " my Lord Bacon." He offers as 
proof of his identity the following test : 

" In regard to my identity, I have to say that you can 
judge whether or not it be Lord Bacon by the truth of 
my teachings." " You can correctly ascertain the true 
character of the spirit purporting to teach, by the subject- 
matter of his teachings, as well as by the peculiar method 
by which he communicates his ideas." (Vol. i., pp. 113, 
186.) 

In the application of this proffered test, it will be seen, 
as his " familiar" Swedenborg has been shown out of his 
own mouth to be a lying spirit, so the Judge will not be 
able to save his Bacon from the same " manifestation." 
My lord thus discourseth : 

1. "All good and pure spirits do not reside near this 
earth, if, indeed, anywhere near it. Some reside mil- 
lions of miles distant, others on planets near the earth." 
(Vol. i., p. 111.) This is contradicted by the communica- 
tions through Dr. Hare, who says : " At the distance of 
about sixty miles from the terrestrial surface, the spirit 
world commences. It consists of six bands or zones (not 
planets) designated as spheres, surrounding the earth, so 
as to have one common centre with it, and with each 
other. An idea of these rings may be formed from that 
of the planet Saturn." " The heaven of Spiritualism is 
9* 



202 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

more than one hundred thousand miles below the moon!" 
(Harems Letter to Episcopal Clergy.) 

These facts were agreed upon, and confirmed to hini by 
a " convocation of spirits." But another convocation of 
spirits, with Bacon at their head, declared : " It takes an 
eternity to reach the celestial spheres. I mean ages on 
ages shall roU away, before progression can develop attri- 
butes to entitle us to a residence in heaven." (Vol. ii., 
p. 92.) 

According to Bacon and his compeers, good spirits do 
not reside near the earth at all, but millions of miles off; 
and even then, are not in heaven. According to the 
other " convocation," heaven itself is more than one hun- 
dred thousand miles below the moon. 

Now the distance of the moon from us is some two 
hundred and thirty seven thousand miles, and hence the 
heaven of the Spiritualists is but between one and two 
hundred thousand miles from the earth. Gentlemen-Spirit- 
ualists, which are we to believe? Spirit Bacon says: 
" Christ now dwells where God is made manifest," (vol. 
i., p. 384,) this being millions of miles distant ; but Hare's 
convocation of spirits says : " Christ is in the seventh or 
highest sphere," more than a hundred thousand miles be- 
low the moon. Gentlemen-Spiritualists, which, and whom 
shall we believe ? 

2. As to angels, spirit Bacon asks : " Could God create 
two distinct classes of beings out of himself, and give to 
one the precedence over the other ? If from his own na- 
ture he has created man, how, from that same nature, 
could he have fashioned another race of beings distinct 
from man ? "What are considered by you as angels, arc 
but the beatified spirits of men." (Vol. i., p. 200.) 

This is contradicted by spirit Swedenborg, who, in 
speaking of the creation of man, says : " His nature was 



INCONGRUITIES. 203 

pure, and that angels visited the earth hourly and daily, 
and conversed with man, and that his spirit could asso- 
ciate with them without fear." (Vol. i., p. 105.) 

3. Spirit Bacon, referring to the Bible account of the 
creation, says : " It is said that God created man from the 
dust of the earth. JSTow this is very well /" (vol. i., p. 210 ;) 
but only forty pages before, he declared : " I can not say 
that he (man) was derived from one source or one being," 
while Swedenborg fully denies the Bible account of man's 
formation. He says : " That there was a first man 
especially and particularly created to occupy the garden 
of Eden, is opposed to all my belief." (Vol. i., p. 126.) 

4. Spirit Bacon, speaking of the Koean, says : " He 
(Mohammed) was impressed, and there are many truths in 
his writings. K they were divested of their admixture 
with materiality, or earth's materiality (!), they would 
shadow forth many scenes of the spheres here." (Vol. i., 
p. 153.) 

Speaking of the Bible, he says : " One great feature of 
these revelations (of Spiritualism) is to disabuse the mind 
of errors, which have been engrafted on then- hearts as 
the results of an overweening faith in the doctrines er- 
roneously inculcated as of God, and as found in the 
Bible." (Vol. i., p. 224.) 

5. Spirit Bacon teaches the preexistence of the hu- 
man soul, and that of this fact the only reliable evidence 
we have is the feeling of superstition ! He says : " Man 
is a part of God himself!" {Ibid., p. 266.) " There is, 
after all, an innate feeling in man's nature, of what is 
called superstition, but what I consider the only evidence 
we have that man's spirit recognizes the source from 
whence it emanated, and recollected, perhaps, something 
which impressed its consciousness before it was sent into 
the world." (Vol. i., p. 201.) Can any absurdity outdo 
this? 



204 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

6. Spirit Bacon says : " There is as much conflict of 
opinion here (in the spirit world) on the true nature of 
Christ, as with you !" (Yol. i., p. 213.) 

7. Lord Bacon, when on earth, understood the Scrip- 
tures and the teachings of Christ ; but pseudo-Bacon ex- 
hibits a remarkable ignorance on this matter, and asserts 
as true, what a simple perusal of the New Testament de- 
monstrates to be false. Thus it is asserted, Christ 
"taught that man was a part of God, that in his spirit ex- 
isted the elements of eternal progression, and that all that 
was required of him was to believe in God, to love one 
another, and to develop the powers and faculties with 
which that God had gifted him." (Vol. i., p. 216.) 

When Christ, at the age of twelve, disputed in the 
temple, we are told : " He reasoned of life, death, and 
eternity, and the ground-work of all his teaching was, 
that the moral purity of man's life on earth was the 
guarantee of his happiness after death" ! "We are told, 
"He taught aU that spirits Swedenborg and Bacon teach !" 
We are reminded that "He presents the spirit as a 
part of God." It is said : " He does not associate himself 
in any way with the adoration of the Father," and that 
" He distinctly refuses to be regarded as any other than 
a man and the son of man" ! "He taught the faith we 
teach, and in every particular Christ was a Spiritualist" ! ! 
" He brought man near to God, and bid him understand 
his connection with the Father. His conditions were 
Repent, and in this he sums up all of spiritual doctrines." 
(Ibid., pp. 379-381.) We are told that " there is one fea- 
ture of his mission which has not been apprehended, or 
even noticed, by all the divines of every sect who have 
pretended to explain his teachings since his death, and 
that is, he spoke when on earth to the very feelings and 
thoughts which could and would improve by the know- 
ledge which he taught" ! ! {Ibid., 383.) 



MENDACITY. 205 

Here are, in regular succession, no less than eight dis- 
tinct lies, known to be such by any one who has read atten- 
tively the New Testament. Therefore, since spirit 
Bacon, after being in the spheres for nearly three cen- 
turies, declares that " he never has seen Christ," (Ibid., 
p. 334,) doubtless it is hereby shown, that being so re- 
gardless of truth, he never will see hhn; for by his own 
demonstration, he is one of the " lying spirits gone forth 
into the world." 

The proof of this will be more amplified by the details 
of the chapter on " Life in the Spheres." 

There is a curious appendix to the first volume of 
" Spiritualism," containing fac-similes of the hand-writ- 
ings of Dr. Dexter, Swedenborg, Bacon, Hopper, and of 
two other spirits unknown. There is a marked difference 
between them, but a medical friend has pointed out to us 
the significant fact, that in all of them, even in the tremulous 
writings of the old gentlemen spirits Hopper, and another, 
the Vs are crossed with the same bold stroke. This was 
an oversight. 

8. Spirit Bacon argues against the personality of God, 
and yet says : " Though the very God is a principle, yet 
he is and must be a person.'''' (Vol. ii., pp. 130, 131.) 
But Swedenborg says : " "We can not invest him with per- 
sonality because of the identity of spirit with mat- 
ter" ! 

9. Spirit Bacon thus discourses : " Matter being eter- 
nal does not prove that it was from the beginning with 
God. It exists eternally. God is a principle, and also an 
identity. If God was from the beginning, and in him was 
all knowledge, power, and wisdom, it must have been 
through these attributes that every thing was created. To 
suppose that matter existed ab initio, would confer on an 
unconscious substance the same properties that belong to 



206 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

God, especially if he did not create it ; or at least, existing 
at the same time with him, it would have had a creator 
antecedent to God, who possessed more power than he 
did or does. One remark is true, that God pervades 
every thing. But listen. Let the mind go back to that 
period when the Spirit of the First Cause sprang forth, self- 
created, and in all the glory of his might and majesty. 
Imagine, that standing alone amid the everlasting space, 
he looks around and sees nothing existent but an infinite 
nothing, and then suppose him creating from his own 
body the several properties which constitute matter, and 
from another principle developing spirit!" 

" It may not be amiss to inform you at this time, that 
among many spirits of high estate there are many who 
believe God himself the product of developed intelli- 
gence" ! ! (Vol. ii., pp. 237, 238.) 

" The soul, then, as you have learned, is a part of the 
God himself, and it is not an arbitrary creation" ! "The 
soul is a God of itself, for it possesses the power of gener- 
ating thought" ! " As it is an emanation from the God, 
it possesses much of its nature, and it is only its admix- 
ture with matter that prevents its manifesting the attri- 
butes which such an origin has conferred upon it" ! ! 
" The ultimate destiny of the soul is to assist God in the 
administration of his laws" ! {Ibid., pp. 314, 315.) 

Spirit Bacon, thus tried by its own test, is shown to be 
a gross deceiver, and although we do not question the 
sincerity of the authors of " Spiritualism," doling out such 
miserable sentiments in two 8vo volumes, embracing 1047 
pages of matter of the same absurdity, blasphemy, and 
folly, we can not shield them from their own demonstra- 
tion of enormous deception practised upon themselves and 
upon others ; nor ought we to refrain from exposing the 
fraud of this monstrous system of heathenism and demon- 



HEAVEN NOT DESCRIBED. 207 

craft, by which they seek to assail the principles of 
Christianity and the Bible, and to subvert the faith of 
men to their everlasting ruin. 

The Bible gives ns no description of the world to come. 
Its outline drawings of the facts and realities of the 
future, are enough to overwhelm the soul. "We have, it 
is true, a glowing assemblage of images in the Revelation 
of John, but they are so differently combined from the 
groupings of earth, with which we are familiar, that they 
were evidently intended to convey but a general idea of 
the magnificence and glory that surround the saints in 
light. After all that has been said in the Bible, to give im- 
pressiveness to that idea, the failure to describe, suggested 
in every seeming approximation, leaves the most power- 
ful impression upon the heart. 

When Paul was caught up to the third heaven, we are 
told that he " heard unspeakable words," (and doubtless 
saw indescribable things,) " which it is not lawful for man 
to utter ;" not that there was an express prohibition of 
utterance, but he was not able to make any delineation 
adequate to the subject, or appreciable by the human 
mind with its present experience and limited powers of 
conception. Nothing can convey to us a more exalted 
idea of the state of the blessed, than the scene of the 
transfiguration of Christ, when Moses and Elias appeared 
talking with him on the mount, connected with that en- 
rapturing assurance, we know that when he shall appear, 
we shall be like him; but of the place and its visual glories 
as they actually fall upon the sight of the inhabitants of 
heaven, we can have no description, for there is no ma- 
terial in human thought or language, out of which it can 
be made. The reason, therefore, is quite satisfactory. 
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered the 
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for 



208 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

them that love him. Hence we at once perceive the 
propriety of the omission, which the modern revelations 
seem most ambitious to supply. 

There is nothing more certain than that the human 
mind has an innate sense of the dignity of this theme, and 
it can never approach it without strangely commingled 
feelings of desire, and reverence, and awe. To whom this 
sense is intensified hy the Scriptures, wrought up into the 
thoughts of all who have properly and profitably pe- 
rused them, the venture of our Spiritualists will appear 
hazardous, and will furnish a most decisive test of the 
entire falsity of their system. Did their communications 
speak to the heart in a voice, and with such ideas that 
bear home their own evidence of heavenly origin to the 
spirituality of our being ; and with an ability to satisfy the 
wants and aspirations of the soul, actually elicit the feel- 
ing, " this is all my nature needs, and all it craves," they 
might claim the respect of mankind : but as they only 
speak to the carnality and the earthliness of our nature, 
they bear their own evidence of imposture and deceit. 

To settle this matter, we present the following extracts 
descriptive of " Life in the Spheres," allowing our Spirit- 
ualists to speak for themselves. 

"The most elevated specimens of the spiritual litera- 
ture," says Dr. Hare, " would no doubt be found in the 
communications from Swedenborg and Lord Bacon, in 
Judge Edmonds's and Dr. Dexter's first and second vol- 
umes." We, then, are on sure groimd. 

THE SPHERES. 

" The idea of spheres is but imperfectly understood, and 
the statements on that subject received and recognized as 
true, are so but in part, as spirits know but little of space 
beyond the sphere they occupy. Spirits, after leaving the 



THE SPHERES. 209 

body, are conducted to localities adapted to the capacities 
and the condition of their minds, in reference to educa- 
tion, society, and progress. Thus, a highly educated 
mind — one familiar with all the knowledge of the schools, 
of strong desires to understand the laws of nature, and of 
an affinity with the purity and attributes of the Creator 
— is conducted to a globe or planet adapted by its local- 
ity and formation to develop the properties of his mind 
to an approach nearer to the plane where the Spirit of 
God is most manifest in all its power and glory. 

" A man who has lived on earth until old age, who has 
cultivated his mind and desires, dies. 

" Now, in proportion to his spiritual development does 
his spirit seek that place in which he will meet with cor- 
responding circumstances, which will assist him in accom- 
plishing the more intense action of his mind, caused by 
the loss of his grosser part, or body. 

" When he arrives at the place of his residence, his body 
assumes the characteristics of the inhabitants of that place, 
whose organization is, of course, more ethereal and spiritual 
than if born on this earth. As spirits do not all possess 
the same degree of purity of nature, they, of course, must 
seek a like congeniality of organization, desires, and attri- 
butes." {Spiritualism, vol. i., pp. 110-112.) 

Spirit Swedenborg says : 

" Now spirits possess a material nature, and this nature 
or form in some is so gross, that it is almost subject to 
laws as imperative as those on earth. I mean as material 
laws. Their material nature is under influences which re- 
quire obedience, and though there is none of the physical 
suffering you have, yet there is as much material neces- 
sity and absolute want in proportion to the grossness of 
their natures as there possibly can be in your material 
world. 

"Under this statement you can plainly see what will 
follow. 

"Thus we have as much of life with us as with you under 
the wants of our nature, and it would be simple in the ex- 
treme to suppose for a moment that God made a material 



210 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

solid earth, and placed in it spirits who were so impal- 
pable that they could not adapt either their bodies or 
spirits to the necessities of climate, of soil, of food, etc. But 
we are sent to places (by our affinities always) where we 
can comply with all the circumstances, just as you do when 
you select a place to reside, though our population is di- 
vided more rationally, more justly, than are the divisions 
of classes with you. We eat and drink of the fruits and 
vegetables of the countries where we reside. This, how- 
ever, we do always, as far as I can learn ; for as long as 
matter exists, it can not maintain itself without support 
from some external source. And then if we eat, there 
must be some one to grow the food, for the climates do 
not always produce spontaneously food for all. But this 
is a matter of choice who shall labor, and we all, in our 
neighborhoods, take turns in so doing, and thus all do 
their duty to themselves and others. Most frequently 
spirits associate together in neighborhoods or commu- 
nities, composed of members varying from fifty to five 
hundred, and while the absorbing topics of progression 
and purity, of development and affection, occupy our 
minds mostly, yet the usual duties of material life are just 
as incumbent on us as with you, always modified by our 
organization and the circumstances in which we are situ- 
ated, and the place where our affinities direct us." (Ibid., 
p. 167.) 

SWEDENBORG'S ACCOUNT OP HIS EXIT. 

" I had lived to impart to the world the realities which 
were unfolded to my mortal vision of the various condi- 
tions and states of the world I now inhabit. I had lived 
pure and unspotted, and when I left the world I was 
ushered into what has been stated as the sixth sphere. 

" But in the course of the great revolution which took 
place in my opinions on many subjects, it became neces- 
sary that I should visit many of the departments of spirit 
fife, and thus, and by conversation with and accounts 
given me by other spirits, I have become acquainted with 
many of the facts which I now inculcate. 

Let it be understood, then, first, that this is a world 
occupied by spirits, or, rather, men, women, and children, 



SWEDENBOEG'S ACCOUNT. 211 

mingling as their desires, tastes, inclinations or pleasures 
impel them, accomplishing and carrying out the great ob- 
jects of their formation, the development of the spirit it- 
self to that exact state when and where it will manifest 
the properties and attributes so corresponding to those 
of the Great First Cause, that they can live and exist 
eternally in direct communication and connection with all 
that possibly can be known or realized as God ; and, 
second, that the different spheres are localities assigned to 
the progressed spirits, and they represent a state of eleva- 
tion, and are reached only by a still more sublimated and 
refined materiality and advance of knowledge and good- 
ness of the souls than belonged to the bodies or spirits 
occupying the sphere below. 

" Now when I arrived at the sixth sphere, I found my- 
self surrounded by spirits whom I had known on earth, 
and was immediately made a member of a community, 
composed, for the most part, of spirits of relatives or 
friends with whom I was connected in life. The newness 
of every thing impressed me with delight. The air was 
pure, and the whole heavens were bright and clear beyond 
all comparison. I saw no difference in the sky, except its 
brightness and purity; and on looking abroad on the 
earth, I could detect no difference hi its appearance from 
our earth, except in the heavenly beauty and harmony in 
the arrangement of the landscape. The diversified cha- 
racter of the scenery, the mountains, not ragged and steep 
as on earth, but rounded with every regard to the har- 
mony and beauty of all the other scenery ; the trees, the 
rocks and mountains, the flowers and birds, the gushing 
torrents and the murmuring rivulets, the oceans and 
rivers, man, woman, and child, all passed before me, so 
far excelling every thing I had conceived or imagined in 
the beauty of form, in the glorious demonstrations of their 
nature, in the palpable and evident exhibition that they 
were beings who inhabited an earth near to the gates 
of heaven, that my spirit, lifted beyond itself, sprung forth 
in one spontaneous gush of love and praise, and I blessed 
God who had vouchsafed to me the privilege I then en- 
joyed. 

" We occupy earth — tangible, positive earth — as much 



212 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

as your earth ; but the advanced state of both spirit and 
locality renders it unnecessary for us to labor much to ob- 
tain food for the support of our bodies. Then, again, the 
earth brings forth spontaneously most of the food required 
for our bodies. And I would say, the advanced spirits 
do not require as much food as those who are below them. 
Their bodies, in every sphere to which they are elevated, 
lose a portion of their grossness, and as they are more re- 
fined, they become more like the spirit itself. We have 
trees — real trees and flowers, and mountains and rivers, 
and rocks, and every thing material." {Ibid., 174-176.) 

THE CONDITION" OE BAD AND PROGRESSING SPIRITS. 

" I do not imagine the moral condition of the spirits of 
the lower spheres differs materially from the moral con- 
dition of the unprogressive man in your world. They 
may, it is true, have moments when their spirits yearn for 
the brighter spheres beyond their dark plane, when, con- 
scious of its birthright, the soul awakens to a sense of its 
own degradation, and realizes its true situation ; but they 
live and act as unprogressive man does, daily performing 
their accustomed round of malicious action, and carrying 
out the designs of their blunted perceptions ; and it is not 
till some event, out of the ordinary occurrences of life, 
arouses them completely, and opens their understandings 
for the reception of truth, that they begin to progress. 
There is so little difference in the whole action of spirit 
life from your life, except that one step forward has been 
made, (I do not refer to the higher spheres, of course,) that 
the correspondence is almost exact. Their remorse, when 
made sensible of their wickedness, must be more keenly 
felt than by man. Here they can have the tangible evi- 
dence of truth, of the beauty of holiness. With you, 
much, of course, must be appreciatory. 

" But when the spirit is awakened to a full view of all 
that is before him, with the bright spirits of friends and 
relations near him, with all that can assure him and sup- 
port him, then it is that the full consciousness of his de- 
gradation crushes him like a weed ; his agony is indeed 
overpowering. It is the terrible workings of repentance 



CONDITION OP SPIRITS. 213 

in spirit divested of the grossness of materiality. {Ibid., 
p. 230.) 

" Nature, or God, never develops any thing at once or 
immediately. Every thing has its beginning, its increase, 
its progress, and may be, its decline. But to man, this 
sudden upturning of all that applies to his nature and to 
his habits is, in my opinion, equivalent to a new construc- 
tion. But when the heart that has constantly contem- 
plated the goodness of God, the emanations of his hands, 
and the gushing tenderness of his love, when it for 
years struggled to subvert all that is of error or wrong 
in its very imaginings, then when convicted of that 
wrong, it bows its soul in very misery before its own 
weakness, it looks only to God for help and assistance. 

Thus, I say, the progressive spirit suffers more of what 
may be called hell, than even the degraded spirit, and 
can only begin to suffer when it begins to rise. 

Every spirit has some daily duty. They work for the 
benefit of themselves and the good of aU. They are 
divided by their own wishes and tastes into all those 
classes which emanate from the various necessities and 
conveniences of community. But their labor is compara- 
tively light, and their time is occupied a good deal in the 
higher labors of thought, social intercourse, visiting, and 
study. In addition, they develop beauty whenever and 
wherever they can, and thus they bring themselves nearer 
to truth by impressing on their souls the idea of its na- 
ture. From the sparkling star which twinkles in the dis- 
tance, to the full blaze of the noonday sun ; ay, from the 
little pebble to the lofty mountain, whose jagged rocks 
turn toward their Creator ; from the vilest creeping evi- 
dence of life, through all and every part of creation, to 
the man who is at its head, God has made and fashioned 
every thing as beautiful, and taught us to consider the 
works of his hands as good. 

Spirits visit much, and it seems as much a part of their 
HVes to visit their friends, as it is faithfully to perform 
their other obligations. Thus they visit their friends in 
the sphere to which they belong, or the sphere below 
them. But their longest visits, and those considered 
most a duty, are those which they make to their friends 



214 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

on earth. That occupies no little ^portion of their time, 
and while with you they are accomplishing some one of 
the specific duties which are required of them in the 
sphere to which they belong. 

When visiting a sick friend, they stay as long as it may 
be consistent with their feelings, or the state of the dis- 
ease. And when a death occurs, they are ready to re- 
ceive the spirit. When a friend is depressed in feeling, 
or has some great trouble to overcome, or when he or 
she has suffered from the wrong of other friends, or when 
about to do wrong, or when about to do good, then it is 
that they flock around, and by their impressions aid, or 
try to direct, as may be proper. 

But the time is passed almost, and I must leave. Good- 
night." (Ibid., pp. 232, 233.) 

" Now in the second sphere, there are many places or 
planets occupied by spirits, and it goes to one or the 
other in obedience to this law, and there remains until it 
is ushered into the sphere above. It finds the land or 
earth which it inhabits organized like your own, requiring 
labor to develop its resources, and that it is incumbent 
on it to labor for its own good as well as others'. And 
here let me say, that, in the spheres, labor is substantially 
the first fealty demanded in any community of any 
person who may claim to be a member. It is the great 
characteristic of the spirit-land, and is recognized as of 
God. 

In the second sphere, the organization being less refin- 
ed than in the spheres above, the new spirit often finds it 
necessary to shelter its body from the sun or storm ; not 
because it gives it pain, or that it would induce sickness 
or disease to expose its body to all the variations of tem- 
perature, but that its pleasures are enhanced by its com- 
pliance with all the laws of nature ; and to expose the 
body to cold or wet, with its organization not entirely 
freed from all admixture of earth, would diminish the 
real pleasure it would receive from shelter or protection. 
Consequently, it erects its habitations, and clothes its 
body, and looks out for the means of sustaining its 
strength, or, rather, of providing for its appetite. Leara, 
also, that the laws of nature, in their application to the 



CONDITION OP SPIRITS. 215 

material body of the spirit, are so properly appreciated 
by the spirit, that while a violation would not produce 
disease or pain, yet the spirit who neglects or refuses 
compliance is degraded, as a punishment for such infrac- 
tion of what it knows to be right. And this is not in- 
flicted by any tribunal, but takes place as a natural con- 
sequent ; the spirit sinks lower and lower, till its density 
bears it to the places below the earth." (Ibid., p. 197.) 

BAD SPIRITS HAVE GOT TO PARM IT ON A SAND-PLAIN ! ! 

" I think I mentioned that it was said that their place 
of residence was a large plain, and I here remark that the 
plain is almost entirely alike in every part, suggesting 
scarcely any feeling of beauty or love of it, and is reliev- 
ed only by one mountain. It is here that the spirits toil 
and wrangle. They labor, of course, more than the ad- 
vanced spirits, as their organization, being more dense, 
requires more to support it. They can not rise without 
a great effort, and being always compelled to associate 
with spirits whose internal is of the same erroneous and 
dark character, it generates all kinds of contentions and 
disputes, and, perhaps, deceit and falsehood. At any 
rate, their affinities for good are, as it were, suspended. 
They do not possess the power to see the thought before 
its utterance, but they act toward each other as man and 
man on earth, that is, not entirely so, but nearly in the 
same manner. 

" Their habits of fife correspond with the tone and cha- 
racter of their minds. They have no pleasures, no asso- 
ciates. They do not study. They do not sing, write, or 
enjoy life in any way, except the delight they may have 
in tormenting those around. They toil for sustenance, 
and as their land is sandy, and no sun-light, there must 
be great labor to enable the earth to bring forth enough to 
sustain them:' 1 1 ! (Ibid,, pp. 221, 222.) 

PRIESTS, ALIAS MINISTERS OP THE GOSPEL, IN THE BAD 
PLACE ! ! 

One of them thus complains : " For the wicked shall 
be cast into hell, and all the nations that forget God. 



216 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

This is a solemn thought, my hearers, and one on which 
we should prayerfully and candidly exercise our minds. 
Yea, verily. It is a solemn thought. The wicked shaU 
be cast into hell, where the worm never dies, and the fire 
is never quenched. Oh ! my friends, flee from the wrath 
to come. Put away your sins, lest the Son of Man come 
in the night-time; and, O ye sinners! beware lest ye 
tempt an angry God ! 

" This was the doctrine I preached on earth, this the way 
in which I filled the poor human heart with fear and 
trembling, with shrinking from a kind and beneficent God, 
whose only manifestation is smiling on his creatures, by 
calling him angry ! by crying up hell-fire, the horrors of 
those who disobey, and distorting every thing to suit my 
own peculiar views. I thought I was doing right and 
God a service by upholding these gloomy dogmas which 
I gave forth with such a zeal, with such bitter denuncia- 
tions against the erring mortals who should have been 
encouraged and dealt kindly with, and not horrified and 
frightened with the contemplation of death. 

" I thus departed from earth, feeling happy that I had 
done my duty and borne my cross, and might enter into the 
joys of my Father's house. I entered the spirit world, but was 
not met by the rejoicing and bright angels I expected ; 
by some friends, to be sure, but their countenances were 
sad and gloomy ; there was evidently something on their 
minds. Instead of rejoicing and songs of praise, it was 
rather a gloomy and mournful greeting on my first entrance, 
and a sadness came over my soul. I asked how is this ? 
Why should heaven seem so gloomy a place ? I said, 
' Friends, can you tell me the reason ? There is no rejoic- 
ing, no gladness in your looks. You have some inward 
sorrow. Pray convey me to Him whose cause I have 
served. Let me see the Saviour who died on the cross to 
redeem shiners. Give me something to repay me for all 
my labor. ' 

" One venerable-looking brother, whom I had known 
on earth, approached me solemnly, and taking my hand, 
said : ' Our life-teachings have been wrong. They have 
caused more mourning and shrinking from the approach 



CONDITION OF SPIRITS. 21*7 

of death than happiness, driving hundreds away by their 
asperity who would have been glad to gaze beyond the 
veil of eternity.' I asked, ' Can it be possible that my 
whole life has been spent wrongly, that I lived an inhar- 
monious life, that instead of doing God service, I have 
done evil towards my fellow-men ?' 

"My soid was so troubled and cast down, that after 
pausing a while, I said to that brother, ' What shall I do 
to be saved ?' He said, ' When you shall see your errors, 
and be willing to go down and redeem the wrong you 
have done in the hearts which are there, then, and not 
till then, will you begin your path of ascension, and by 
your labor blot out your own sins by assisting others to 
blot out theirs.' 

" And, my friends, as soon as I was made conscious of 
my error, I began my work. I gave up my narrow con- 
ceptions of the Deity. Grovelling worm that I was, how 
little did I know of the majesty of God ! I began ear- 
nestly and trustfully to cast away the chains that bound 
my soul. I began my labors. And, oh, yes, it was a la- 
bor, indeed, sufficient to toash away my many sins, when 
I shall have washed away the errors from those minds 
whose ignorance was made darker by my errors, and who 
might now have been farther advanced but for my teach- 
ings. 

" I am now ascending. I begin to see the beauties of 
the spirit world, and the tears fill my eyes when I think 
what I might have been. 

" Friends ! thank your God that you are free, and that 
you are on the road far ahead, far in advance of many of 
the dwellers in the spirit land." (Ibid,, 321-323.) 



SPIRIT BACON'S INVECTIVE AGAINST PRIESTS. 

" Friday, Oct, 28th, 1853. 

This evening the Bishop of , and Doctor 

of Kentucky, were in my library, with the Doc- 



tor and myself. The Bishop was investigating, and 
avowed himself a believer in spiritual intercourse ; but he 
betrayed an ignorance of the nature of spirit and the 
10 



218 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

life after death, that showed he had thought little on the 
subject, and that was marvellous to me in a high dignitary 
of the Church. After they had gone, Lord Bacon 
wrote : 

'"I was somewhat inclined to answer the Bishop cava- 
lierly when he asked me to write the Apostles' Creed in 
Latin. I have forgot both the apostles and the creed 
long ago, and hope I shall not again be subjected to the 
indignity of learning it. But, Judge, how little the se- 
crets of the priesthood are understood, and how little their 
avocation is understood ! How powerful a hold have 
they on the minds of the world, and how little good real- 
ly have they accomplished. 

" 'They claim that they are the advanced guard of civ- 
ilization, and that they have hung out the banner of truth 
on the outer wall of human progress ! Alas ! for human 
nature, winch has suffered them to triumphantly dictate 
to its ignorance what their reason feared to investigate ! 
Alas ! for the world which would submit to the dictation 
of men, who, proclaiming that they understand the laws 
of God, are inculcating the errors of their creed or sect. 

" ' Priests of God ? Holy men ? They are but the 
drones of society — the very worms of life which prey on 
the finest feelings of man's nature — the instincts of his 
soul. They priests ? Yes, the priests of ignorance — the 
very barriers of progressive inquiry ; for they trammel 
thought, confine reason, and send the mis-born soul into 
the spirit world without the least knowledge of his des- 
tiny. 

" ' Look abroad over the world, and ask yourselves who 
is it that has accomplished all that has stimulated man to 
search, investigate, and seek out from nature the secrets 
which advance his mind and give to his soul the first 
gleam of hope everlasting ? lias it been the priesthood ? 
Has it been the ministers of God ? No ; for they have 
tortured the chosen spirits of any age when they have 
differed from them in form or tenet. They have barred 
up all outlets of human enterprise and knowledge, un- 
less it conformed to their dictum. They have sent their 
hirelings into every household, and have bound on the rack 



INVECTIVE AGAINST PRIESTS. 219 

the good and true, the aged and young, when they have 
differed one iota from the severe laws they have laid down 
for the rule of man. Not content with driving man to de- 
spair in life, they have sent his spirit howling into the 
spheres, with their anathemas following him like an ac- 
cursed spirit when he reached there. They pretend to 
minister to a mind diseased, but they have made the 
death-bed a dice-box, by which the everlasting happiness 
of some good man was cast on the hazard of their ap- 
proval. Alas ! for the priesthood ! Alas ! when they pre- 
tend to teach man the destiny of his soul ! 

" ' But look again, and ask yourselves, what have they 
done ? They have taken one book, called the Bible, and 
from this they have fashioned laws which limit all inquiry 
beyond this source,'" etc. etc. (Ibid, 272, 273.) 

"Do you, gentlemen, who have seen much of life, mingled 
with all classes of society and all kinds of men, you who 
have measured intellect with intellect, and have wandered 
through many a mazy path to arrive at your present po- 
sitions, do you really feel that all your early understand- 
ing of religious teaching has in fact opened to your minds 
one truism in regard to your present or future state ? Do 
you realize what the character and attributes of God may 
be from the sermon of a Presbyterian or a Dutch Reform- 
er ? Or do the teachings of either sect give you better 
assurance of the nature of the spirit that is within you ? 
Perhaps one or the other of you has, in early life, embraced 
the doctrine of free salvation, and yet are you any better 
satisfied that your chance of safety beyond the grave is 
of more value than another man's, who may differ in belief 
from you? Can you place your finger on one statement, 
in all the teachings of priest or layman, which is truth- 
fully explanatory of what the true object of life is ?" 
(Vol. i., pp. 151, 152.) 

JOT IN HEAVEN OVER THE JUDGE'S LETTER. 

"Sunday, Aug. 7th, 1853. 
" This evening, at the circle at Dr. Dexter's, (it_ being 
the next day after my letter had appeared,*) it was 
written : 

* Alluding to my letter to the public of the date of 1st August, 1853. 



220 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

" ' My children, let your minds imagine a sphere, or, 
rather, a locality, exquisitely beautiful, diversified with 
every variety of scenery, with lofty mountains stretching 
out far in the distance, and broad valleys teeming with 
vegetation of most luxuriant growth, with noble rivers 
flowing through these valleys, and deep forests skirting 
the sides of these mountains ; imagine plains and undula- 
ting surfaces laid out in fields and gardens, with flowers 
of every hue and odor, and here and there beautiful resi- 
dences scattered over the whole territory ; imagine, in 
fact, a world most beautiful in its harmonious blending 
of the practical with the artistic, and in the divine order 
with which every arrangement has been made for the 
pleasure and profit of those beings who were to inhabit 
it. Then imagine this world filled with an almost untold 
number of intelligent spirits, whose thoughts are con- 
stantly directed to those subjects which will conduce 
most to the development of mind, which will elicit most 
of good from every thing around, and which will contri- 
bute most to the advancement of one another resident in 
that locality, and their same race on your earth. Ima- 
gine, too, that these beings are interested in every thing 
which tends to the advancement of truth, and to the re- 
moval of every impediment which may obstruct the re- 
ciprocal action of that truth in its upward progress from 
earth toward heaven, and then imagine the deep, the fer- 
vent, the enthusiastic, and the abiding interest with which 
these beings have considered the wisdom or the practica- 
bility of the publication of Judge Edmonds's letter, and 
the effect which that letter has had on the public mind, 
now that the press has given utterance to the sentiments 
it contains. Words can convey no adequate conception 
of the absorbing desire which animates every individual 
to see for himself or herself what its influence may be, 
not only on the minds of their friends, but also on the 
feelings of those persons who have opposed spirit revela- 
tion from the beginning to the present time. There are 
gatherings here and there. Under the shade of some 
majestic tree you will picture a party of men and women 
discussing, in terms of no common interest, this letter. 
In some house, where there may be friends visiting, and 



THE LETTER. 221 

from other localities, (whose affinities correspond,) you 
will see the delight, the anxiety, the confidence, the hope 
and the faith which are expressed in the countenances of 
both the friends and their visitors. In the depths of the 
forest, and amid the silence of nature, you may imagine 
spirits meeting spirits, and the first salutation is, " The 
Judge's letter is out." In the conferences on subjects 
belonging to the government of neighborhoods or com- 
munities, the business is deferred, and the talk is about 
this letter. Spirits traversing the air, and meeting in 
space with other spirits, stop and accost one another, and, 
while floating on the transparent medium, they ash, " What 
will be the influence of this first direct onset on the an- 
cient superstition and errors of the world ?." 

" 'We are satisfied ; and we trust that what of pain there 
may be in this effort, the good it may do will compensate 
for all anxiety and care, and afford a joy so pure and last- 
ing that it shall satisfy the soul that it can really feel the 
links of that chain which cements it with these spheres 
and eternity. 

" ' Oh ! when a duty has been done, and the spirit which 
has shrunk and hesitated has at last boldly dared to do 
and acknowledge truth, how its responses tell to the 
vibrating feelings of the soul, " I am indeed for ever, 
and I know that I am ascending ; I know that I am of 

God." SwEDENBOEG.' " 

— {Spiritualism, vol. ii., pp. 83-85.) 

This angelic jubilee over the " Judge's Letter," must 
have been peculiarly grateful to his heart ! Only think of 
spirits not only from this, but from other worlds, all put 
into the highest state of excitement by the contents of 
this letter of Judge Edmonds, addressed to this Yankee 
Public, and containing an account of HIS conversion to 
Spiritualism ! One or two specimens from this Letter, 
will show the very worthy matter, and very reliable 
statements over which the whole spirit world was filled 
with joy. (The italics are our own.) 

"It was in January, 1851, that my attention was first 



222 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

called to the subject of ' spiritual intercourse.' I was at 
the tiiue withdrawn from general society ; I was laboring 
under great depression of spirits. I was occupying all 
my leisure in reading on the subject of death and Irian's 
existence afterward. I had in the course of my life read 
and heard from the pulpit so many contradictory and 
conflicting doctrines on the subject, that I hardly knew 
what to believe. I could not, if I would, believe what I 
did not understand, and was anxiously seeking to know 
if, after death, we should again meet with those whom 
we had loved here, and under what circumstances." 

The implacable hatred that every now and then peers 
out from his pages against the Church and the priests, 
as he sneeringly caUs the ministers of the Gospel, has evi- 
dently led him to sin against the truth : for it is notorious 
that " on the subject of death and man's existence after- 
wards," no man ever "heard from the pulpit so many 
contradictory and conflicting doctrines," as the Judge 
seems to intimate to be the staple of Gospel preaching 
among " the sects." It is simply impossible, that such a 
diversity of sentiment could exist upon a subject upon 
which all are agreed. Yet, this is one of the matter~of 
fact-statements over which, the assembled delegates from 
creation rejoice ! 

Again he says in this letter : 

" In the mean time, it is due to myself and to others 
to say, that our faith, as growing out of these researches, 
is not ' at irreconcilable variance with revelation.' How 
little do they who make such charges, know of this mat- 
ter ! Misled by the crudities which alone are seen in the 
newspapers of the day, because the graver matters can 
not find admission there, the idea is, I am aware, enter- 
tained by some that this new philosophy is at variance 
with the revelation through Christ, the Redeemer. This 
is indeed a sad mistake, and one that believers would be 



THE LETTER. 223 

too happy to correct, if only the opportunity could he 
afforded them." 

This is simply absurd. We have shown, and shall still 
further show, that the Bible itself is represented as a book 
of falsehood by the spirits, and their agent authors ; that 
there is not a distinctive doctrine of "the revelation 
through Christ, the Redeemer," which is not bitterly as- 
sailed, and, with the coolness of minds made up to malice, 
trampled under foot. What then shall be said of this 
seemingly honest compliment paid to Christianity ? What 
shall be thought of this hankering after the respectability 
of the " revelation through Christ," to serve wherewithal 
demon revelations, as opposite in nature, doctrine, and 
tendency, as darkness is opposite to light ? What, on 
the score of honesty, shall be thought of this profound 
bow to Christianity in the " Appeal to the Public," con- 
trasted with the many kicks given to the Bible, to Christ- 
ianity, and its ministry, in the numerous books, and 
pamphlets, and papers of spirit literature ? Ah ! it is 
quite too plain, they would " steal the livery of heaven." 
etc. 

THE JUDGE CAUGHT UP IK THE SPHEEES, AND CONTEMPLATES 
A SAW-MILL. 

" I saw the old man whom I had met in the path, when 
he ascended the steps of this new country, and mingled 
with the spirits there awaiting him. ***** 

" I was walking up that same path, accompanied by 
them, (his wife and children,) and was just leaving the 
place where I had been shown the stairway. On both 
sides of me were beautiful residences, standing back from 
the road. 

" One I noticed in particular, because it was surrounded 
by trees and shrubbery, as I had sometimes seen among 
the natives of Central America. The trees grew close 
together, and intermingled their dense foliage overhead, 



224 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

producing a very soft shade all around their trunks. 
They were trimmed up as far as the arm could reach, 
and the ground around their base was levelled very 
smooth, entirely free from grass, and kept very clean, so 
that it was a cool and delightful promenade. This grove 
was at the side and behind the west end of the house, 
and extended off, I observed, some distance in that di- 
rection. The whole place was very attractive to me, and 
I had a wish to examine it more closely. My companions 
immediately turned with me into the inclosure. 

" I noticed that the ground in front of the house, and 
between it and the path, were not, as at the other places 
I had seen, ornamented with flowers, but they were used 
as a vegetable garden, and it was in very perfect order, 
and growing very luxuriantly. I saw growing there 
Indian corn, potatoes, beets, and lettuce. There were 
other varieties, but I did not particularly notice them. 
But there seemed to be nothing there merely for orna- 
ment. All was for use, but all was in order. As I ap- 
proached the house, I saw at my left some out-houses near 
the edge of the trees, as if for animals. 

" I became at once impressed that that was the farm 
establishment for that community, and he who lived there 
had been a farmer on earth, and now superintended it 
for the common welfare. 

"I saw no one around the place. The house was an old- 
fashioned farm-house, one and a half story high, with a 
wide portico in front, with seats in it. My companions 
stopped there, but I proceeded around the house into the 
grove. 

" There, back of the grove, I saw a large field of wheat 
growing very thrifty, and nearly ripe. It seemed to be 
stirred by a gentle breeze, and waved gracefully and 
peacefully, as I have often seen it here in midsummer. 
The grove of trees, and the clean, smooth walk under the 
shade, continued all around the field, and it was the only 
fence it had. 

"I had noticed, as I passed, that the out-houses which 
I saw were for the mules which were used on the farm, 
but thus far I had seen no animals nor man. But now I 
noticed, beyond the orchard, a dense forest of enormous 



THE SAW-MILL. 225 

trees, and in it there was a water-fall and a saw-mill, and 
now I saw the man whose place I was on. He was at 
work at the saw-mill with four or five assistants. He was 
dressed in shirt and trowsers, and his sleeves were rolled 
up. He and his companions seemed very cheerful and 
happy at their work. It seemed as if they were toiling 
for the pleasure of it, and were evidently enjoying it. 
They were singing and laughing, telling stories and 
cracking jokes upon each other. 

" The saw-miU was at work with four saws a-going ; but 
I did not see around it any of the fitter which I have 
been accustomed to here : no loose piles of slab, no heaps 
of saw-dust, no decaying logs, but every thing was neat 
and orderly. The logs were piled up in heaps, and so 
arranged as to look very handsome. They were ar- 
ranged in piles. I counted the base. It consisted of 
eight logs, then above that layer seven, and then six, and 
so on up to a point. 

"All their rubbish and dirt, I observed, were carried off 
by a sewer dug under ground, and terminating at the 
precipice which I have already mentioned. By means of 
a waste-weir all tfie rubbish was carried off that way, and 
the water passed clear and pure down through the farm. 
When I approached, they were sawing a large log with 
the whole four saws. It was a singular kind of wood, 
something like tfie bird's-eye maple, but tfie spots were 
larger, and the wood susceptible of a higher polish. 

"Each board, as it came from the saw, was finely po- 
lisfied and smooth, and I examined to see how that was 
done. The back of each saw was as thick as its front 
edge, and so constructed that it smoothed off and po- 
lished, as it went along, the roughness which the teeth 
made. 

" The mill itself was a beautiful structure. It was a 
Doric temple, witfi two rows of columns, open entirely at 
the sides, and a roof that projected over both at the 
ends and at the sides. He had time enough to build, 
and had taken care to ornament it. Just beyond this 
mill I saw a pasture in which horses and cows were graz- 
ing, and through it ran a stream of water." 

10* 



226 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Here we can not refrain from asking the notice of the 
Judge to a hint from the above, that ought not to be 
lost. If so much joy was occasioned by the publication 
of the letter aforesaid, among the progressed spirits of 
the upper spheres, why might not the Judge suggest a 
plan to help the "poor devils," doomed to farm a black 
sand-plain, with no sun-light ? The plan I propose would 
awaken in their bosoms, methinks, a pulsation of grati- 
tude that would necessarily set them right onward in the 
upward way of progression. The plan is certainly bene- 
volent and feasible, and is simply this : to send down, at 
proper intervals from this sphere, in which the Judge 
saw horses and cows, seasonable showers of compost. 

Surely it would ameliorate their labor, and save very 
much spiritual sweat. Should this be proposed by the 
Judge, I hope he will remember the author of the sug- 
gestion, and name it as coming from one who, though a 
"priest," is entitled to exemption from farming it, by this 
discovery. But let the VISION progress : 

" My return was instantaneous, as if I had been borne 
through the air at my wish, while my passage out had 
been a very leisure walk. 

" On my return to the house I found my companions still 
seated in the piazza. A female of mature age, who 
seemed to be the mistress of the mansion, was standing 
in the door-way, leaning against the door-post, talking to 
my wife. A younger female, apparently her daughter, 
was leaning out of the window of the front room con- 
versing with my son and daughter. The younger female 
had a red collar to her garments, while those of the other 
female were trimmed with pale green belt, and purple 
cuffs and colors. Her hair was done up in a knot behind, 
but how it was fastened up I could not be certain, but it 
seemed as if by a silver arrow thrust through it. This 
was her working-dress, and she seemed to be as in- 
dustrious as her husband. 



THE FARM-HOUSE. 227 

"I saw through the hall out hack of the house a large 
churn as large as a barrel, of Avhite wood with brass 
hoops, and very clean. 

" Observing what attracted my attention, she invited me 
to walk out back and examine for myself. I did so, and 
she accompanied me. 

"I found out there a very wide piazza on which the most 
of her work was done. At one end of it I saw many tin 
pans hanging up against the wall, and under them was a 
table, fastened to the building by hinges, and capable of 
being lifted up or let down at pleasure. On that she told 
me she made her bread. 

" I had not yet seen any glass windows. On this piazza 
there were openings for windows, but I saw no sashes or 
glass. Standing against these openings was a long, nar- 
row table with drawers in it. 

"The floor seemed to be of stone, sloping from the 
house outward, and terminating in a gutter which ended 
in a sewer under ground, and thus all refuse water was 
carried off. 

" The water from the brook was carried into the piazza, 
and fell from a penstock in a small stream into a basin, 
elevated about four feet from the floor. It ran over the 
sides of that basin into a larger one on the floor, whence 
it escaped into the sewer. 

" I observed that parts of the floor of the piazza were 
so constructed, that by moving an upright stick standing- 
back against the side of the house, a lattice-work could 
be opened and let the air pass up. This was done to give 
ventilation, and I observed that the slats of the lattice- 
work were so constructed as not to let the water through, 
but to carry it off into the gutter. 

" While in this piazza, I observed back of the house 
several orange trees full of fruits and flowers, and monkeys 
playing in their branches. Here, for the first time, I saw 
a cat ; she was playing with the monkeys, and chasing 
them up the trees. I saw also, at a little distance to the 
right, a large, old-fashioned barn for storing grain, and 
between it and the house was a large field of Indian corn. 
The barn was standing near the stream of water, and had 
contrivances by which all its rubbish and dirt would be 



228 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

carried off by it. And here I observed that the stream 
of water tended north, and became at a short distance 
again united with the others into a large creek. 

" In passing from the back to the front of the house, I 
observed the hall had upon it what had the appearance 
of an old-fashioned rag carpet. The female, reading my 
surprise at that, told me they had been farmers on earth, 
and had taken a great deal of pleasure in their way of 
living, and had purposely surrounded themselves with the 
comforts to which they had been accustomed. 

" The boards of the hall fl6or were so clean and polished 
that they shone. 

" I saw also in the hall an old-fashioned stairway leading 
to upper rooms. 

"Some one of the circle here inquired, If they thus worked for the whole 
community as a matter of duty enjoined upon them, or did it voluntarily. 
The female answered : 

" 'We do it voluntarily. We take pleasure in it. When 
we want help we say so to those around, and they come 
of their own accord.' The daughter, laughing, added : 'I 
don't have much work to do, so many come and offer to 
work, and when they come, we have merry times, we tell 
stories, laugh, and are full of fun.' 

" I observed that their house was not large, and the 
family only consisted of three persons — the man, his wife, 
and daughter. They were originally from Germany. 
They had been in the spirit world many years, and there 
had been many new inventions to facilitate farm labor 
since they left the earth, which they had learned and 
adopted. Among other things, the woman showed me a 
pair of heavy wooden shoes, the soles at least two inches 
thick, and she told me, that she used to wear them, and 
then she showed me the light leather shoes she now wore, 
and laughingly compared them together. 

" Some one of the circle asked me to inquire, how many years she had 
been in the spirit world ? 

"She answered she could not tell by years, only by 
events ; but it was before the Crusades. She added, she 
remained only a few years in the lower plane, when all 
three were united and ascended together. 



BUTTERMILK. 229 

" I inquired of the daughter if she had never been mar- 
ried ? She answered she supposed I would call it mar- 
riage. There was one to whom she was much attached, 
and they loved each other's society, and they were a good 
deal together. He was now at work at the saw-mill. And 
she said, he would come in from the saw-mill, not at all 
tired with his work, and would kick up his heels and go to 
dancing. ' Yes,' added the mother, ' and you join him in 
doing so.' She showed me a guitar and a flute, and said 
they played and sang together. 

" The young girl seemed full of frolic, and fun, and joy. 
She could hardly keep still. As she and my daughter sat 
close together, I could not help noticing the difference. 
My daughter was still and quiet, and apparently very in- 
tellectual. She was not without emotions, hut she re- 
pressed them, and I saw her once in a while lay her hand 
on her heart, as if to hush all within. 

" We turned to take our leave, for it was time for me 
to go. The matron invited me to call on her again, and 
she would, she said, give me a drink of buttermilk' 1 '' ! ! ! 
(Spiritualism, vol. ii., pp. 135-144.) 

Oh ! Judge Edmonds ! Judge Edmonds ! Judge Ed- 
monds ! ! Oh ! Judge Edmonds ! Oh ! ! ! 



THE JUDGE'S VIEW OF THE CEOSS. 

" In this circular path, and between me and the foun- 
tain, that assemblage stood. They were variously and 
beautifully dressed, and in front of them, toward me, three 
spirits were standing. The centre one was tall and ma- 
jestic, clothed simply in loose, white garments, extending 
to his feet, and holding under his left arm a book. His 
appearance and manner, and the expression of his counte- 
nance, approached nearer to my ideas of Jesus of Naza- 
reth than any delineation of him I ever had seen, but I 
ascertained at once that it was not him, but the presiding 
spirit of that community. 

" My companions and myself, as we approached him, 
were filled with emotions of love, of reverence, and of awe, 



230 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

that would not let us speak. The spirits which stood, one 
on each side of him, wore mantles of dark blue velvet, 
and on their heads chaplets, which were badges of office. 
I can not describe the countenance of that presiding 
spirit ; he seemed to be filled to overflowing with happi- 
ness ; he was of large, capacious mind, and full of love to 
all around him. There was a solemn stillness brooding 
over all the scene that seemed to hush even the pulse's 
beat. 

" There were conflicting feelings awakened in me : one 
prompted me to fall down and worship him ; and the 
other repressed that, and told me he was a man as I was, 
and asked, Why can not you be like him ? 

" When I arrived within a few paces of him, he took 
the book from under his arm, and with outstretched hand 
pointed me to the heavens off at his left. And there, 
amid the hush of that scene, amid its glorious beauty, its 
soft and gentle light, and its balmy air, high up in the 
heavens, and far distant, I saw the cross of our Redeemer 
painted. Rough and unhewn itself, it was surrounded by 
a halo of golden light, and on one of its arms a majestic 
spirit, clad in dark-colored and rich garments, stood lean- 
ing. High over it all flashed, in rays of sparkling silver 
light, ' God is Love.' Directly over the summit of the 
cross was a scroll which seemed to spread abroad a feeling 
of solemn awe. On it was inscribed ' He saved mankind 
by living, not bt dting.' Below the transverse piece 
was a small scroll, on which was written, 'Do thou iAke- 
wise.'" ! ! ! (Ibidj, pp. 152, 153.) 



THE JUDGE HONORED IN THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

" While noticing these things, a party approached from 
the west on horseback. It consisted of twenty or thirty 
persons of both sexes, and they were superbly mounted. 
I noticed particularly a jet-black pacer ridden by a female. 
He was a superb animal. They came from a distant 
community to invite me to visit them. 

" The presiding spirit called my attention to the shining 
mountain, and I saw that its summit was approached by 



PARTY ON HORSEBACK. 231 

a broad, winding stairway, with heavy balustrades and 
numerous landing-places, and terminated at the summit 
under an arch, through which streamed that golden light, 
casting it rays far down the mountain, lighting up the 
stairway to my vision, and throwing its reflection of 
golden and crimson light upon houses and land and water, 
and beautifying the scene wonderfully. And he told me 
that light was the product of the concentrated love of all 
the inhabitants, which thus shed abroad, upon all that 
surrounded it, its warm and grateful influence. I saw 
birds of song and of gay plumage flying into its rays, as 
they shot forth in various directions, and. the animals con- 
fined to the lower plane sought the spot where it struck, 
that they might bask in it. Elephants and lions and other 
wild animals I thus saw, but they were savage no longer 
under its mild influence. I even saw the crocodile crawl 
from his watery bed, and as he reached the light his dingy 
sombre hue changed to a lively green. 

"In the distance I saw a body of water, which seemed 
to be the end of a lake or large inland sea. On it were 
vessels with sails, most of them small, as if chiefly for 
pleasure, and one large steamboat, as large as one of our 
sea steamers. From all this I inferred, that this was a 
bay only of a large inland sea which was hidden from me 
by the intermediate land. 

" And I saw, too, rivers meandering through the coun- 
try, on which vessels were plying and over which bridges 
spanned, and lakes of various sizes in different parts of 
the country. 

" It was indeed a beautiful country to live in, amid its 
soft and grateful air, and its glowing but mild light. 

" I was, however, obliged to leave it, for my time was 
up, and I returned to earth." {Ibid., pp. 155, 156.) 



THE JUDGE TREATED TO A RIDE IN THE SPHERE. 

" While I was looking at these things, a carriage and 
four horses drove up ; they immediately attracted my 
attention, for one of my youthful follies had been a great 
penchant for driving tandem and four-in-hand ; and she, 



232 A THEEE-EOLD TEST. 

whose girlhood had heen accustomed to the quiet, sober 
driving of her Quaker father, had soon learned to dash 
'fast and furiously' through the country with me. It 
was a beautiful turn-out. The carriage was light and 
tasty, with a high seat for the driver, and one seat behind 
for two persons. It was painted yellow, and on its panels 
was my seal ! The harness was light and airy, and the 
horses were superb animals, of the true Arabian breed, 
with long, sleek bodies, clean limbs, and a springing mo- 
tion to every step. They were well groomed, high-spirit- 
ed, and well broke, and of different colors, being matched 
rather for quality than looks. 

" The presiding spirit and my wife entered the carriage, 
while I ascended the driver's seat and took the reins from 
the coachman. 

" We started for a ride. We descended a hill and cross- 
ed a bridge, driving westerly toward the shining moun- 
tain. It was very exhilarating : the jingle of the harness, 
the rattling of the wheels, the clear, ringing tread of the 
horses, as we sped rapidly along, reminded me of many 
a youthful frolic ; but here the pleasure was much en- 
hanced by the beautiful country through which we were 
passing, and the many and delightful residences that lined 
both sides of the way, as also by the thoughts which the 
scene and the associations suggested. 

"As we passed rapidly along, I ever and anon turned to 
speak to my companions of the beauties around me ; and 
he who sat beside my wife seemed a little uneasy, as if I 
was not attending as I should to my driving. My wife 
reassured him, and told him she was used to it, and he 
might rely upon it, that I was at home where I was, and 
knew what I was about." (Ibid., pp. 163, 164.) 

THE JUDGE IN THE BAD PLACE. 

" I was in a dark and gloomy country, all a dead level, 
whose soil was a fine black sand, parched and very dry. 
There was no water, no trees or shrubbery, but all was 
bleak and barren. In a distant part of the scene I saw 
a conical-shaped mountain, towering darkly among the 
clouds, and intervening were roads and dwellings. 



THE BAD PLACE. 233 

" It looked as if the air was full of that black sand, and 
a smoke, as if from bituminous coal, was over it all. 

" In front of one of the houses I saw two men fighting. 
Out of its window a man was looking and laughing at 
the affray. It was a dirty-looking hovel, and all around 
it was foul, neglected, and in confusion. How cruel that 
fight was ! They were a large and a small man who 
were engaged. The larger held the smaller one fast and 
beat him in the face with his fist, long after he ceased to 
resist. Some of the passers-by regarded the scene with 
indifference, while some enjoyed it, and applauded and 
encouraged the large one to keep on. 

"Among those who passed, I was particularly struck 
with two who were engaged in deep and private conver- 
sation. One of them was a man whose forte was cun- 
ning, and whose penchant was to circumvent. He was 
never true, sincere or straightforward. He was disclos- 
ing some plan he had devised to cheat some one, and, on 
raising his fist at his companion, he said : ' Damn you, if 
you betray me.' His companion seemed to be entirely 
under his control. He was weak, and admired the cun- 
ning of the other. He seemed to love to aid others in 
committing crimes, but not to have mind enough to de- 
vise any himself. 

" On the opposite side of the way, I observed what 
seemed to be a full-grown boy, had caught a dog, had 
split open his tail and put a stick in it, merely to enjoy 
the sport of seeing his suffering. He then turned the 
dog loose, and stood enjoying the scene. The attention 
of the owner of the dog was drawn to his cries, and, dis- 
covering the cause, he beat the boy, who, being as 
cowardly as he was cruel, fled, but was pursued, and 
beaten and kicked far up the road." {Ibid., 181, 182.) 

THE JUDGE A EEDEEMEE. 

A spirit of the lowest sphere, liberated from this world 
by a halter, had been consulting the Judge but two days 
before the following colloquy took place. Having come 
again, the Judge thus writes : 



234 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

" I noticed that his right hand was clenched, and I re- 
marked, ' Your fist doubled again ?' 

" He instantly opened his hand, and, baring his arm, 
raised it up before me, and said, ' Do you know that 



sia-n 



v 



" I told him, right well, and now I wanted also the 
word. 

" He then added, ' Do you know you have redeemed 
me?' 

"I told him how deeply I rejoiced to hear it, and re- 
minded him that I had told him that such a result woitid 
give me happiness thatwoidd last for ages.* 

" He then said : ' I told you I'd bring another with me 
— Jane, Jane !' 

" Yes, I told him, I knew he had sent her, and I had 
heard from others that he had, even down in his dark 
abode, in defiance of all opposition, proclaimed the glad 
news that a way was opened to them, and I had thus 
seen that he could indeed be redeemed. 

" He answered : ' I am redeemed from the curse of sin 
by your aid. You have saved me.' 

" Nay, I replied, it was the truth which had saved 
him ; ' the truth against the world.' 

" He then said : ' Do you know love's subduing power ? 
I hope ! now I hope ! I can not tell you the joy it 
brings. Do you know what rest is to the weary ? joy to 
the heart-broken ? Then may you know the fullness of 
my joy. Do you know I am liberated from the bonds of 
sin and despair, and see before me the eternal light of 
pure blessedness ?' 

" Then, after a pause, he added : ' I told you I could 
tell you something. Listen : do you know their weapons 
are prepared, their plans laid for your destruction ? Be 
on your guard ; they would be glad to drag you down 
to their own condition ; but fear not, and look up whence 
your strength comes. Man of God ! labor faithfully in 
this sin-subdiung work.' " (Ibid., p. 216.) 



* "We had marked seven other cases where the Judge had helped to 
redeem souls from future misery, but have no room for the edifying 
recitals ; probably one example is enough. 



235 



" JOHN ANDERSON, MY JOE I" 

The Judge thus writes, on another occasion : 

" And, sure enough, in a moment I was in the spirit 
world again, and walking rapidly up the broad avenue to- 
ward the fountain ; there I saw assembled a large crowd 
of spirits, with very pleasant smiles of joy and welcome. 
My wife was standing at the entrance of her garden, with 
her two children and the old man, her attendant, by her 
side. The presiding spirit waved his hand for me to pass 
on to my wife, and I did so. I passed through her gar- 
den, toward her mansion, she leaning on my arm, and 
saying to me, ' Is not this like old times, now ?' 

******* 

" I could not see what was delineated on the wall of 
the room behind me ; but the eradication of so much of 
that gloomy record awakened in me such feelings of 
gratitude, that I said to my wife, ' Let us kneel together, 
for that we have never yet done, and give thanks to 
God !' She asked if she might not call in our children ? 
I said, ' Certainly.' And as we four knelt around that 
altar, I uttered this prayer : 

" ; O thou great Jehovah ! beneficent Father of all 
created things ! shed abroad upon our hearts the impress 
of thy divine love, that we, aiming at thy purity, may re- 
vel in its mellow light for ever.' " 

" We arose, and she, leaning on my arm, led me from 
the room. As we were leaving it, I turned to look at 
the other side of the room ; she playfully checked me, 
saying, ' Remember Lot's wife.' 

"We then entered a room on the opposite side of the 
hall, which was the exact counterpart in all respects, in 
every little article of furniture even, of my library in the 
house where she died. It looked out, however, upon a 
different scene. 

" She called me to the front window, and there I beheld 
a large collection of spirits, who, with musical instruments 
and with their voices, sang a song she used to sing to me 



236 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

so often. It was, ' John Anderson, my Joe !' " Ibid., pp. 
309-311.) 

Oh ! Judge Edmonds ! Judge Edmonds ! Judge Ed- 
monds ! ! Oh ! Judge Edmonds ! Oh ! ! ! 

THE JUDGE VIEWING A KNOT OF DARK SPIRITS WHO WERE 
PRIESTS. 

" I perceive that some of those spirits were influenced 
by a general feeling of hatred, and a desire to put a stop 
to that which they know will benefit mankind. Others 
were influenced by an emotion of jealousy toward those 
who believe this new doctrine, and who enjoy a privi- 
lege which had been denied to them. They saw no end 
to their condition. They thought that it was eternal, and 
they recognized no reason why we should have what they 
did not possess. Some of them I saw had the same per- 
sonal feelings of enmity they had on earth, and some were 
angry because we had not been so easily moved by them 
as others had been. 

" The spirit who was passing around giving instructions 
came to a knot of five or six, who seemed from their 
garb and manner to have been priests. They were very 
much despised, even by that dark assemblage. They 
seemed to feel mean, degraded, and trodden upon, for all 
treated them with contempt. And it was no wonder, for 
they had been hypocrites on earth ; mere sensuous men, 
very material in their nature, and did not believe the 
doctrines they taught, nor did they suppose that any one 
else believed them, and they thought that as some form 
of religion was necessary among men, theirs had been 
devised. They found, now, how sad a mistake they had 
made, but they knew no remedy. They were too much 
cowed and dispirited to act, and seemed too stupid to 
understand the instructions given them. They answered, 
by saying listlessly, ' What can we do ?' The directing 
spirit turned from them with undisguised contempt. 

" I saw in the crowd a spirit whom I had seen before. 
He was fantastic in his appearance and actions, yet filled 



DARK SPIRITS. 237 

with hate, and incessantly active. He was dressed to re- 
present the Devil as he is often painted by man. He wore 
a cap, which, close fitting to his head, was ornamented 
with what seemed two horns. His feet were so dressed 
that they seemed to be cloven, and he had appended to 
him the appearance of wings and a tail. He was very 
dark and sombre, and around his mouth he had painted 
red streaks, so that when he opened it and thrust out his 
huge tongue his appearance was most disgusting. He 
seemed to be the harlequin of the group, yet never 
paused in his intense and bitter hate. 

" One of their plans was most horrible. It was to work 
upon one of my children till she should be made insane, 
and then throw her into a trance, so that fancying her 
dead, I might have her buried, and afterwards discover 
that I had buried her alive ! A plan so hellish, and over 
which they gloated, made me shudder and grow sick. 

" I saw that the spirit who floated around giving orders 
returned again to the knot of priests, and told them they 
must influence their brother priests on earth to carry out 
their plans. They answered him, with a feeling of weak- 
ness and despondency, that ' It was of no use : the clergy 
on earth would not dare to do it, for fear they might lose 
their situations.' That directing spirit turned from them 
again, with utter scorn, exclaiming, ' Miserable devils ! 
incapable alike of good or evil' I saw that all the 
other spirits kept aloof from them, and that while all the 
others were actively engaged and conversing with each 
other, they stood silent, listless, useless, and despond- 
ing. 

" I saw that one of their plans was to affect our healths, 
which they boasted they could do, by means of their 
magnetism." (Ibid., pp. 242, 244.) 

It is quite clear that these spirits of evil have not only 
magnetized the hearts of our gentlemen authors, but 
rendered them clairvoyant and eloquent in just such bal- 
derdash and blasphemy as we should expect from such a 
source. 



238 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 



THE JUDGE TAKEN TO THE MOOIST. 

"To illustrate this," (something or other, no matter 
what,) "they bore me to the moon, and I was directly over 
it, where I could see its surface distinctly, its high pro- 
minences, its deep valleys, its great unevenness of surface ; 
and they said to me, ' Do you not see that if the moon 
had an atmosphere like that of your earth, with the ra- 
pidity of its three-fold motion, that atmosphere must be 
very much disturbed by this inequality of surface ? and so, 
too, with water, which is but a denser element ? Can you 
not perceive that if the surface of this globe were smooth 
and level and free from these inequalities, the elements 
would not be as much disturbed by the motion ?' They 
alluded, they said, to all the elements which go to consti- 
tute an inhabitable globe, for all were subject to the same 
law. 

" I observed with much minuteness the surface of the 
moon. I saw no living thing there except a few plants. 
Sometimes in the crevices of the crumbling rocks, where 
some little soil had gathered, there were a few specimens of 
vegetation ; but they were large, coarse, low, creeping 
weeds. 

"I saw many different colored rocks ; some looked like 
hard slaty rocks — some streaks that seemed to be light- 
colored granite — some shining and sparkling in veins as if 
gold and silver — some very black and shining, like anthra- 
cite coal. 

" These things I saw in a vast basin, as it were, like the 
crater of a volcano, with huge craggy rocks bounding it 
on all sides, and jutting far up. I saw no water. Some 
of the rocks had fallen from the sides, and tumbled into 
the valleys, where they were crumbling. But every thing 
was dreary, desolate, silent, solitary. The spirit of life 
had not yet been developed." (Ibid., pp. 251, 252.) 

As the spirits told me that ancient astrology is true, 
these gentlemen, believing in the superiority of modern 
manifestations, can not be offended, if it be here suggest- 



A VISIT TO THE MOON. 239 

ed, that probably the first time the Judge was spirited 
away from this planet, he was taken to the moon ; and 
we think it altogether quite probable, that his mind being 
illumined by sweet Cynthia's bright beams, we are indebt- 
ed to this fact, for the entertainment afforded the world 
in the two octavos on " Spiritualism." As evidence, we 
take his own language : 

" We have to contend against our own fanaticism ; for 
I assure you from my own experience and observation, 
that the fascination of this intercourse is so great, that its 
tendency is to lead men away from their proper judg- 
ment, and instill a spirit of fanaticism most revolting to 
the calm and natural mind." {Judge Edmonds's Lecture 
in the Broadway Tabernacle, Feb. 16, 1855.) 

But there are other authors who describe " Life in the 
Spheres," who shall also speak for themselves, and thus 
afford various matter by which the " New Revelation" 
shall be judged. 

We quote now from " Scenes in the Spirit World," 
given through the Medium H. Tuttle — a sort of novel, 
in which the spirit of the old pagan philosopher PY- 
THAGORAS is the Instructor. The future world is by 
him thus described : 

PYTHAGORAS' ACCOUNT. 

" The soil which supports these trees, differs from earth 
only in the degree of its refinement, and consequently, of 
necessity, its productions are similar to those of earth ; 
and as the exhalations from the earth differ as its devel- 
opment varies, so this soil changes continually in its cha- 
racter. Hence this world, in the variety ofits forms, has 
imitated earth, copying in minutias all its types from age 
to age. Thus says a spirit from a world breathed into 
existence long before ours, and his speech is reasonable, 
and proceeds from direct observation. Soon after the 



240 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Sauvian Age, our sphere was inhabited by those reptile 
forms whose remains are buried in the permian and oolite 
rocks. The uncouth mammalia of the tertiary, alike were 
aU represented here. So has it been with all ages ; their 
peculiar types and forms were all represented in this 
world until the present period dawned, when the refine- 
ment of atoms was so accelerated, that spirit with intelli- 
gence alone could occupy this abode. 

" Here is a shadow of that correspondence which exists, 
and has ever existed, betwen the spirit world and earth. 
Matter is prone to take the form in which it had previous- 
ly existed. Hence this grove, these beautiful plants, 
revelling in the light of their own spirituality. They have 
all existed on earth, and though the atoms which compose 
this orange tree never before united in this particular tree, 
yet all have existed in various orange trees before. 
Atoms thus modified have affinities to unite in this pecu- 
liar form of tree." (P. 23.) 



A CHRISTIAN IN A BAD PLIGHT. 

The spirit of a Christian is represented as arriving in 
the spheres, and sadly disappointed because he could not 
find heaven. He comes in contact with Pythagoras, and 
the following dialogue ensues : 

" ' "What kmd of a place do you expect to find heaven ?' 
asked the Sage, with something of pity mantling his lofty 
brow. 

" ' What kind of a place ? I believe it is as the Bible de- 
scribes. It says heaven is paved with bright gold, and 
walled about with precious stones, so that no sinner can 
get in through the narrow way which I have travelled, 
except now and then a slight transgression, which the 
Lord hath forgiven me.' * * * 

" ' Many of earth's sons would far rather see the " glit- 
tering pavement," than heaven itself, but none will ever 
be gratified,' calmly replied the Sage. 

" ' Is there no such place ?' and again the storm of pas- 
sion arose within. 



A CHRISTIAN IN A BAD PLIGHT. 241 

" ' No local heaven — heaven is a condition, not a local- 
ity.' 

" ' Do you deny the Bible ?' 

"'No.' 

" ' That says heaven is located.' 

" ' Not if rightly understood.' 

" ' Yes it does, plainly. I have crucified my flesh, suffer- 
ed everything, carried rny grievous cross — all for nothing ! 
Nay, nay, I'll find the place yet.' 

" ' Not yet.' 

"'Never?' 

" ' Never !' replied the Sage in chilling accents. 

" ' Are my sufferings of no avail ?' 

" ' None whatever, unless to depress you. The path of 
happiness passes not through suffering. Suffering is the 
consequence of infringed law — happiness, of obeyed law. 
To be happy is to enjoy all the pure pleasures of earth. 
You have always labored under a great mistake.' 

" ' But my prayers ?' 

" 'Prayer without action is nothing.' 

" 'Did not Christ die for me ?' 

"'No.' 

" ' Why was he sacrificed then ?' 

" ' He died because the Jews were angry at his reform- 
ation, and treated him just as all reformers have been 
used since time began — burned, crucified, murdered by the 
mob at the instigation of the priesthood.' 

" ' Can he not forgive sins ?' 

" ' No ; every man has his own accounts to answer for. 
If he is debtor he is necessarily punished.' 

" ' Atonement false ?' 

" ' Yes, Christ suffers not for your sins. He is not a 
scape-goat on whom you are to lay your burdens.' " (P. 43.) 

The spirit then goes in his vain search after heaven. In 
the mean time, Pythagoras thus replies to questions from 
his companions : 

" ' Then you still hold that man knows nothing of the 
future state while he remains man ?' 

11 



242 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

" ' He can not know with certainty — all is obscure and 
doubtful. He may possess an interior desire for immor- 
tality, but he can not reason upon this important subject 
with his senses ; and he has no other data from which to 
draw his conclusions.' 

" ' Has he not the Bible ?' 

" ' What data can that afford, when there is no external 
evidence of its truth ? And those who profess to be- 
lieve it do not live an exemplary life as a proof of its in- 
spiration. The truth is, that man believes not fully in 
immortality. If he did, think you he would not depart 
the earthly life with joy, when he was sure of being 
ushered into the presence of his God ? Verily, if he re- 
cognized fully in his conscience such a beautiful place as 
his ideal heaven, he would rejoice at grim Death's ap- 
proach. Men profess to believe the Bible fully, and are 
terribly shocked if you question its veracity in the least. 
It is the idea they believe, not the substance-, educational 
prejudice compelling them to take for granted that 
which the internal light of their nature condemns.' 

" ' Reason, they say, is carnal, and not of God,' said 
Leon, ' and should not be exercised.' 

" ' Yes, and those who preach this doctrine, exercise 
their reason to shut the light from others' understand- 
ing-' 

" ' That is the light in which it always appeared to me. 
I have heard preachers declaim by the hour on the falli- 
bility of poor human reason, and the infallibility of the 
Holy Scriptures, and the more they preached the more 
they excited their own benighted reasoning powers to 
prove reason false.' 

* * * * * '"The whole fabric of the 
church system is founded on educational prejudice. This 
system, accumulated under priestly rule, has assumed the 
character of a dead weight on man's advancement, drag- 
ging him down to ignorance and blind subservience. 
Why is it indisputably the case that the lawyer, physician 
and clergyman are generally striving with their united 
energies, and have ever striven to keep the mass in men- 
tal darkness ? Simply because their whole success — their 
wages, depended on the ignorance of the masses concern- 



DISCOURSE OF PYTHAGORAS. 243 

ing the organic and physical laws. Under these, and no 
other conditions, will they swallow their stale doctrines 
Avithout murmuring. But set them to thinking, and they 
make sad havoc with the professions. If clergymen would 
preach practical lessons of morality, instead of such end- 
less, verbose theorizings, they would become more useful 
members of society. If the doctor would lay aside his anti- 
quated theories and mystical technicalities, and discourse in 
a language which common sense can understand, explaining 
the laws of health and life in a simple style, his patients 
would soon know enough not to be sick. If the lawyer 
would strive with his brother, the clergyman, to elevate 
the moral condition of his clients, instead of arousing all 
the base principles of their natures, Ms quibbling false- 
hoods and deceptions would not be needed. Mankind, 
properly elevated by their moral teachers, would forgive 
the trespasses of their brother, as they already have the 
idea of doing, and not nourish those feelings of hate and 
revenge, too often found among the highest order of 
Christians.' » (Pp. 47-49.) 

The Christian spirit whom we have mentioned as going 
to satisfy himself as to whether he could find heaven, 
years after his vain pursuit, again meets Pythagoras, and 
thus salutes him : 

" ' I appear before you far lower than when, years ago, I 
entered this my immortal life. Had I hearkened to your 
words and not scorned your sayings, rather than have 
taken the words of a mythic book (!) as expounded by a 
designing priesthood, how much more advanced would I 
now be ! * * * 

" ' I have searched long and diligently, but have found 
no such heaven as the Bible describes. That book has 
undone me — utterly, irretrievably ruined me for ever. I 
would that I had been born in a heathen land, and had 
never read its soul-destroying pages ! I have inquired of 
every spirit I have met, if they knew the locality of heaven; 
and all the answer I received would be a commiserating 
look, while they pointed around them, as much as to say 
what you said long ago, " Everywhere !" I have seen 



244 ± THREE-FOLD TEST. 

multitudes of spirits similarly engaged as myself; yet 
none ever discovered the object of their search ; and. I 
left them and went alone — beginning to doubt in my 
mind the theory I formerly believed sacrilege to dispute, 
and which I so fanatically supported. The few words you 
spoke to me came up with redoubled force, and I was 
ready to exclaim, " Ah ! that I had hearkenedtotkat vener- 
able man whom I first saw on my entrance into this world." 
This day, by some unaccountable reasons, I arose to a 
higher plane than usual, and without a moment's warning, 
stood before you. Your forgiveness is worse than your 
combined curses. I could bear the latter, but this softens 
me to tears.' " (Pp. 74, 75.) 

PYTHAGORAS CONTIjSTCES HIS DISCOURSE. 

" ' The savage regards God as a separate and detached 
being — the civilized man, as the Author of creation, pene- 
trating through every atom of matter. 

" ' This is well expressed in the Allah of the Moham- 
medan, " the Only." How beautiful is the idea contained 
in this : " God is the Only !" When we speak of him there 
is no Nature, for we mean every thing. All is a part of 
the Omnipotent. God is the " Only," the " All," the*' I am." 
He speaks to you through every sense, and impresses him- 
self on your minds. 

" ' Here, I perceive, the question arises in your minds, 
"What and where is God?" This vast subject has en- 
gaged the attention of theologians and philosophers 
through all recorded time, and yet nothing but a vague, 
unsatisfactory conception has been gained. Still the 
question arises, " What, and where is God ?" Still the 
human mind manifests its inward dissatisfaction in striv- 
ing for something more — something beyond. In early 
ages, the chiefs and rulers could give their ideas, and 
their blind followers were satisfied. They recognized God 
as a personal being, and their followers worshipped him as 
such. This idea of God's personality has descended to 
the present time, and the mass still worship a monstrous 
human potentate, instead of the controlling principle of 
universal nature. 



DISCOURSE OF PYTHAGORAS. 245 

"'Say to the churchman that you believe the Deity to 
be the mind of Nature, and he will exclaim in sacred hor- 
ror, " You are a disbeliever in a God ; you can not worship 
him unless he is personified." The Chinese bowing be- 
fore their idols, the Hindoo prostrating himself before the 
crushing wheels of the Juggernaut, the fire-worshippers 
venerating the rising king of day, are no more idolatrous 
than those who worship a personified Deity."' (Vol. iii., 
p. 125. 

" ' But you say this idea of Deity will lead to Pantheism. 
What if it does ? Can there be no truth in Pantheism ? 
I care not from whence truth is derived. I never trouble 
myself as to the origin of an idea. If reason approve it, 
I am satisfied. Pantheism may contain some correct 
views. Even the lowest depths of Atheism rest upon 
some truths. All error begins hi myth, and would be 
immediately condemned if not for the few truths upon 
which it rests. Men who dare not use a new truth, for 
fear of being styled infidel, are in want of moral courage. 
Such are willing to skim the surface, never daring to go 
deeper than then* predecessors and cotemporaries.' 

'•' ' But how can you worship a principle, or a code of 
laws ?' 

" 'If the ancients called those attributes manifested by na- 
ture by the term God, and we now recognize in what this 
Deity consists, and if our devotion thus ceases, it is no 
argument against our conception. This objection is simi- 
lar to the plea for ignorance, because the learned do not 
feel the same degree of awe and wonder as the savage 
when gazing on the fearful tempest, or the roaring cata- 
ract. If increase of knowledge destroys devotion, then 
it should be destroyed. But does it do this ? The man 
who regards Deity as the Omnipotent Intelligence, will 
not fall down with blind zeal or bigoted devotion — with 
fear and trembling — as in the presence of an angry tyrant. 
Perhaps he will have no stated time to go through the 
mummery of a formal prayer, only lip deep ; but his 
veneration will speak in the still, small voice, and he will 
adore the great cause of universal harmony which spreads 
around hhn, in which he recognizes the action of those 
great and comprehensive principles to which his fathers 



246 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

gave the name " Jehovah." The ignorant devotion paid 
him is the result of superstituous fear, and has not the 
semblance of true devotion. 

" ' Devotion springs from the most exalted faculties of 
the mind. If man strives to be devout, he immediately 
loses his object ; when he strives not at all, he is most de- 
votional in his feelings. When the man who has violated 
law prays, whence cometh his prayer ? Not from the 
moral organs, but from the selfish and the animal. After 
men have become miserable by violating law, they pray 
God to forgive them. After doing wrong through the 
day, they pray for forgiveness at night. Hence God re- 
ceives the homage of the animal propensities. True de- 
votion to Deity, of the developed mind, is the obedience 
of all the laws of his nature. There is no distinction be- 
tween Nature and God. That mass of matter and mind 
which has ever been separated, is an indivisible unity. 
Let this lead to Naturalism or Pantheism; these impres- 
sions are clear and strong, and rest on the immutable 
basis of creation. I consider the laws of Nature as the 
will of Deity ; the wisdom and intelligence displayed 
around me, as his mind ; and though in speaking of these 
it is well to preserve a partial distinction, yet, in reality, 
all is one inseparable unity. I recognize nothing supe- 
rior or external to Nature ; nothing above, or controlling, 
this unity; but within dwells perfection of principle, work- 
ing for ever with indefatigable energy. 

" ' We have but one guide in the study of Nature, and 
that is reason. Revelation is scientifically shallow and 
superficial, being but a daguerreotype of the rude He- 
brew mind. Respect it for the truths it contains, but not 
otherwise. Nature, then, is all that remains for our study 
to bring to light those laws which reveal the hidden ways 
of the Omnipotent mind ! ! ' " (Pp. 128, 129.) 

THERE ARE NO CUXPRITS. 

" 'In the undeveloped state of things now existing, the 
majority are born with bad organizations. They are 
found in all classes of society. Reared from the embryo 
in the worst conditions, surrounded by circumstances 



DISCOURSE OF PYTHAGORAS. 247 

calculated to excite alone the animalities, can you be as- 
tonished that men are as they are ? They are surrounded 
by objects which excite their acquisitiveness ; by com- 
panions who allure them on to crime. They are bred in 
tilth, vice and corruption, with scarce food enough to sus- 
tain the life within them, or fuel to keep them from freez- 
ing ; while all around is wealth, luxury, and comfort. 
Blame them not, brother ; you would soon learn to lie, 
and steal, and cheat, if you were similarly situated. 

" ' The disposition to crime is a disease, like lunacy and 
other cerebral disorganizations ; and charity should teach 
pity, and not revenge.' " (Pp. 132, 133.) 

THE SUM OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 

" ' Every man and woman should consider themselves 
individual sovereigns, to think and to act as best pleases 
themselves, if they do not infringe on the rights of others. 
There should be no conformity except to Nature. The 
thoughts of yesterday, if they can not bear the light of to- 
day, should be cast aside. If you take any part of the 
old craft to build your new one, it will be bungling, and 
iacapable of withstanding the rough waves of the troubled 
ocean of reform. The reformer should cease lopping off 
the branches, and strike at the roots of the monstrous tree 
of error which shadows the world. By so doing you 
leave humanity free to commune with the infinite God. 
This is all that is required of you. To be great should be 
the aim of every individual. Not great in crime, like 
Csesar, Alexander, or Napoleon, who merit the scorn of 
the world ; not great in intellect alone as Laplace and 
Cuvier, or in morality as Confucius, Menu, and Howard — 
though the latter species of greatness is superior to the 
others. But be great in all of these, with a giant intel- 
lect supported by a pure morality, and put into action by 
well-controlled basal organs. Thus organized, the great 
mind will not look down with contempt on those beneath, 
nor with envy on those above. There will be nothing 
arbitrary or conventional in such a mind, but serene and 
pleasurable emotions, and the highest enjoyment of life. 
In this way Jesus Christ was the greatest of men. He 



248 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

was an exalted moralist, a profound philosopher, and pos- 
sessed the energy to put all in action. So superior was he 
to common men, that in those superstitious times it was 
natural for men to believe that the Deity had descended 
into him, and that something marvellous had taken place 
at his birth."' {Scenes in the Spirit World, p. 143.) 

Thus far Pythagoras. His heathenism needs no com- 
ment. 

SUPERNAL ELOQUENCE OP SPIEIT DE. CHANGING. 

" Let growth of soul, and expansion of thought, en- 
circle immensity, bedewed with the high, and the holiest 
recollections of the infinite impress of the Divine Mind 
upon the heart of man. Blessed Intuitions — Holiest re- 
collections ! intervene, and radiate the dreary waste, and 
speak peace to the heart. Shall not these high-born mes- 
sengers awaken within man an evidence of immortal de- 
sire, to breathe forth a sweet cadence of love to the man- 
gled effusions, that arise spontaneous o'er the diversified 
aspects, that contemplate the future as a vast arena, en- 
circling the horrid destrium, that has impeded the onward 
march of his and my fellow, who, like myself, is born 
amid the clash and din of arms, to promote the highest 
ends, that await man's conceptions of power and freedom, 
which is the birthright of Heaven, to endow the heart 
with its true nature. Its restrictions are buried amid the 
din and sulphuristic effusions, that rob the memory, and 
sack the storehouse of immortality of its holiest ends. 
Peace ! Immortal Peace, should be an angel messenger, 
whispering o'er the dead wantonness of polluted power. 

" We herald the offspring of a diseased appetite, that 
can only be restored amid the untutored semblances of 
ill-guarded omens, that whisper amid the lamentable as- 
pects, that await the endless vicissitudes of man. A change 
in the heart but awaits the endless changes of eternity. 
It speaks in the sunlight glory of its native birth. It 
breathes the atmosphere of blessed anthems, instilHng the 
fermentations of thought, in ascension to its end. The 
Divine Evidences of Spiritual Illumination, are observ- 



SUPERNAL ELOQUENCE. 249 

able upon the hill-tops of every land. Like blessed 
virgins of peace, they waft to the sunny clime the bid- 
dings of the soul. The frigid zone is melted, by the 
warm appeals to a consciousness of its power. Every- 
where, the mighty messenger of hope bids on to the ulti- 
mate of heavenly care. Come, then, my brothers, and 
amid the furiated mass, build a tendon of infinite power, 
that shall ascend beyond the marked impress of a deified 
end." 



" Let God, in the heart, adorn the man with robes of 
sapphire, whose enchantments shall inspire our every 
thought, beyond the melodious strains of seraph as well 
as Son, born anew to the divine iUuminations of the heart. 
I want a united effort to give life and vigor to the Spirit 
ual manifestations and movements in Nashville, that your 
brother man may aspire to higher and greater ends 
than the seraphic enchantments that picture man lifeless, 
bereft of the prerequisites of deified power ; robed in 
heaven, or doomed in an everlasting hell. 

" Let the intuitive lessons of heaven-born minstrel? 
chant the high and glorified anthems, that shall inspire v 
thought beyond the selfish motives of man. Spiritual h 
luminations will give the hue of celestial visions to the 
future, to permit man to behold his life, his heaven-borr 
inheritances, if true to the common instincts of humanity 
and his God. Then be inspired with renewed exertion* 
in the great cause of human freedom. Humanity's chai t 
is but the glorified acceptance of Love, Wisdom and Hate : 
hate for the insidious designs of those who give vent to 
the most malignant desire to stupefy all brighter prospects 
of the Future ; wisdom to disentangle those who dare 
give thought to the intuitive impression made through 
the infinite impression of the soul ; love for then own, that 
then cherished ritual may be made the standard of every 
man's conscience. Let the multifidious desires be awak- 
ened, that man may come within the hallowed influence 
of celestial fires, that the glorious era, now dawning 
upon the world, may be hallowed by the holiest ties and 
kindred affinities, both on earth and amid the exhaustless 
11* 



250 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

expanse of waste." ! ! ! ! (Spirit Communion, pp. 126, 
129.) 

We have now presented numerous " elegant extracts" 
from spirit literature, whose internal evidence shall form 
our second test for the character and claims of modern 
Spiritualism. 

We might have quoted more largely, and froin a greater 
number of authors, for it is quite evident, that Spiritual- 
ists ought to tell their own story ; and thus they would 
manage our point for us in the "best possible manner ; but 
our limits would not allow it, and perhaps the reader 
may complain that more than a " quantum sufficit" has 
already been pushed upon his attention, until he has ar- 
rived at an " ad nauseam" conviction. Well, we confess 
this has been our aim. And we feel sure that he has al- 
ready passed an intelligent verdict upon the spirit move- 
ment of our distracted age. 

A full and fair sample of subject-matter and style is ne- 
cessary to enable one to pronounce upon the truth or 
falsehood of the claims set up, and without it such an at- 
tempt would be unreasonable and unfair. 

We have read some of Dr. Channing's productions, and 
we think that every competent man acquainted with them, 
will pronounce the specimen a grievous libel upon the dig- 
nity of his matter and the beauty of his style. All that 
we have read purporting to come from him is like this. 
To be the author of such effusions, Dr. Channing must 
have sadly retrogressed y but this indisputable fact con- 
flicts with the great doctrine of progression, with which 
every publication is filled, and of which every spirit talks, 
in the interest of this novel cause. The conclusion is 
therefore inevitable, that if spirit Channing be a lying 
spirit, we have no evidence but that all others may be 
personating, deceiving demons ; whose imposture we have 



INTERNAL EVIDENCE. 251 

no adequate means to detect, and whose ability to elude 
the sagacity of mortals in all the tests employed, is evi- 
dently almost unbounded. If, on the other hand, the 
spirit of Dr. Channing is really the author of the afore- 
said and kindred productions, then it is perfectly clear, 
that his life in the spirit world is one at least of intellect- 
ual deterioration and retrogression; and as heaven, accord- 
ing to Spiritualists, is more of a state than & place, it fol- 
lows that spirit Channing is going on from bad to worse, 
since nothing can be found in all his writings so intel- 
lectually impoverished, so bedizzened with "hifalutin," 
and so intrinsicaUy, intensely, mterminably, intolerably 
absurd : but -this falsifies their whole theory ; therefore, 
whether this be a lying or a true spirit, the internal evi- 
dence of his productions is dead against the system in 
whose favor and for whose advancement they were 
made. 

In the elaboration of this supernal literature, every me 
dium is a psychologized and clairvoyant ecstatic, whose 
intellectual and physical organism is used by the spirits 
for their own high purpose, of imparting a new revelation 
to the world, as we are told, which shall ultimately sub- 
vert the myths and falsities and imposition of " popular 
theology." Such being the avowed design, surely, accord- 
ing to the doctrine of " progression," we must look for 
ennobling sentiments, mighty thoughts, commanding intel- 
lectuality, profound morality, which, if it must partake of 
the impurities of media, shall nevertheless appeal to the 
reason, commend itself to the moral sense, and exactly 
suit that innate perception of the fitness of things inalien- 
able from the nature of the human soul which, we are told, 
is a "part of God himself." This is axiomatic, and essen- 
tial to a state of correlation between sanity of mind and 
the realities of universal existence. Reason therefore is 
hi itself a competent power of necessary intuition, whose 



252 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

judgment is an infallible test for all things coming within 
its scope ; and must, by the very terms of its existence and 
operation, decide according to the internal evidence of 
every theory submitted to its judgment. 

What, then, are the facts and doctrines of our modern 
Spiritualism ? They are drawn out in a lucid manner, by 
the author of that most unmanageable book, " The Apoca- 
tastasis," and we can not do better than quote it, p. 153 : 

" A pantheistic theology, the identification of God with 
matter, or a Soul of the World, or vital principle of the 
Universe ; hence, man's responsibility is only to the laws 
of nature ; the denial, consequently, of the fact of true 
spiritual relations, of the existence of sin and guilt, with 
an attempt to show that the universal consciousness of 
humanity on this point is fallacious "and false ; the reitera- 
tion of the so often exploded falsehood, that man, having 
no free will, is but an involuntary and irresponsible link in 
the endless chain of nature ; the reassertion, therefore, of 
the principal lie of Eden, ' Ye shall not surely die ;' the 
physical demonstration, for as many as can comprehend 
interiorly the immutable laws of nature, of the immor- 
tality of the soul ; because it is perfectly obvious from 
the ' inherent and immutable laws of progression,' that 
every particle of matter in the universe, ascending 
through multifarious forms, from the angular to the 
circular, from the circular to the spiral, and soon to the 
spiritual, ' will ultimately pass to the perfection of a spirit- 
ual essence ;' allurement to virtue by the promise of de- 
licious oriental paradises after death, of which, however, 
the most vicious as well as the virtuous, may take their 
choice in the spheres ; this linsey-woolsey tissue of ancient 
and modern sophistry, absurdity, and impiety, sugared over 
with sickly sentimentahsm, and milk-and-water morality, 
with the privilege of perpetual appeal, for its true interpreta- 
tion, to the reestablished pagan oracles, and ancient ne- 
cromancy revived." 

This is a true schedule, a veritable list of small wares 
in the haberdashery of modern Spiritualism ; and when 



INTERNAL EVIDENCE. 253 

we consider the turgid style, the entangled web of words, 
the profuseness of incongruities in all forms of speech at- 
tributed to Bacon, Swedenborg, Pythagoras, Channing, 
Washington, Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and other minds 
whose modes of thought and forms of diction are well 
known, it is simply impossible to contemplate spirit liter- 
ature without ineffable loathing and disgust ; we repeat 
that to a sane mind, not ousted out of its normal state, it 
is impossible not to regard the whole of it as a bottomless 
pit of wickedness and imposture. The evident " brain- 
dribble" of a medium poured out of his mouth or through 
a quill, in all respects answering to the above description, 
is gravely published to the world as the giving forth of a 
new law and gospel, by which the life of man on earth, 
and all his belief and action respecting his immortal inter- 
ests, are to be guided ! ! 

We are instructed, in this " new religion," to distin- 
guish between heaven and the spheres through which all 
men shall ultimately reach it and become the " minister- 
ing angels of God." 

The spheres are circles concentric with our earth, and 
below our moon, according to spirit Hare ; but heaven 
" lies outside of all other spheres." Whatever may be the 
facts in the case, he " has not learned that any spirit from 
our planet has yet reached the supernal heaven." {Hare's 
Spiritualism) 

The situation and the glories of the spheres, spirit Hare 
thus delineates : 

" The spirit world lies between sixty and one hundred 
and twenty miles from the terrestrial surface ; the whole 
intermediate space, including that immediately over the 
earth, the habitation of mortals, is divided into seven con- 
centric regions, called spheres. The region next the earth, 
the primary scene of man's existence, is known as the first 
or rudimental sphere. 



254 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

" The remaining six may be distinguished as the spiritual 
spheres. 

" The six spiritual spheres are concentric zones or circles, 
of exceedingly refined matter, encompassing the earth 
like belts or girdles. The distance of each from the 
other is regulated by fixed laws. 

" You will understand, then, they are not shapeless chi- 
meras, or mere projections of the mind, but absolute en- 
tities, as much so indeed as the planets of the solar sys- 
tem, or the globe on which you now reside. They have 
latitudes, longitudes, and atmospheres of peculiar vital 
air, whose soft and balmy undulating currents produce 
a most pleasurable and invigorating effect. Their sur- 
faces are diversified with an immense variety of the most 
picturesque landscapes ; with lofty mountain ranges, val- 
leys, rivers, lakes, forests, and the internal correspondence 
of all the higher phenomena of earth. The trees and 
shrubbery, crowned with exquisitively beautiful foliage and 
flowers of every color and variety, send forth their grate- 
ful emanations." (Ibid., p. 8V.) 

The reader will observe the discrepancy between this de- 
scription and that given by Bacon. 

In the seventh sphere dwells "Jesus of Nazareth, (! !) 
the great moral reformer, and ' John the beloved.' There 
reside the apostles, prophets, and martyrs of olden time. 
There five Confucius, Seneca, Plato, Socrates, with all the 
philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome." 

This representation of the place where Christ is, and 
the companionship it is his privilege to enjoy as one of 
the " reformers" of the world, is given by spirit Maria, 
and confirmed by a convocation of spirits ! Says Prof. 
Hare, in his " Spiritualism Scientifically Illustrated," pp. 
108, 116: 

" It ought also to be explained that after spirits reach 
the seventh sphere, they are represented as being en- 
titled to enter the supernal heaven, taking place among 
the ministering angels of the deity." {Ibid., p. 123.) 



INTERNAL EVIDENCE. 255 

JsTow the Bible speaks of heaven, but it says nothing 
about these spheres. Indeed aU its teachings contradict 
their existence. Christ is at the right hand of God, far 
above angels, according to the Scriptures ; but according 
to Spiritualism, he has not yet reached the dignity of a 
" ministering angel ;" he has not even " progressed" be- 
yond the sphere of the old heathen philosophers. 

Christ declared that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were in 
heaven; but spirits place them in the seventh sphere, while, 
as to the location of these spheres, spirits themselves 
are not agreed! Whom, then, shall we believe? There 
is no discrepancy on the subject of the spiritualized mat- 
ter composing them. This is distributed in all the variety 
of the earthly condition. The visions impressed by Ba- 
con, Swedenborg, Pythagoras and others are all cut out 
of the same web. The earthly and the sensual predomi- 
nate, while there is such a pomposity of language used 
to express the most insignificant conceptions and incon- 
gruous notions, that no person, if he retain his natural 
mother-wit, will either disgrace it, or dishonor the vir- 
tuous departed, by imputing to them the authorship of 
such paltry trash. They present scenes, employments, 
and intercourse utterly offensive to the well-balanced and 
well-instructed mind, and a calm appeal to reason, ought 
ever to bring down its anathema upon the whole system as 
earthly, sensual, and devilish : earthly, because the gross- 
ness of earthly pleasures depict spiritual employments ; 
sensual, because the appeal is to the carnality of a sensuous 
experience for their just estimation by us ; and devil- 
ish, because they artfully teach false doctrine, to the ruin 
of souls, subserving the nefarious design of the Devil. 

The description of the spirit home above given, answers 
precisely to the Elysium of heathen mythology. " There 
happiness was complete, the pleasures were innocent and 
refined. Bowers for ever green, delightful meadows 



256 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

with pleasant streams, were the most striking objects. 
The ah- was wholesome, serene, and temperate ; the birds 
continually warbled in the groves, and the inhabitants 
were blessed with another sun and other stars." {Lempri- 
ere's Clas. Die.) 

It is also strikingly hi unison with the Mohammedan 
heaven. Thus spake the Prophet of Mecca : 

"As to those who believe and do good works, we will 
not suffer the reward of him who shall work righteous- 
ness to perish : for them are prepared gardens of eternal 
abode, which shah be watered by rivers ; they shall be 
adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and they shall be 
clothed in green garments of fine silk and brocades : re- 
posing themselves therein on thrones. 

" The description of paradise, which is promised unto 
the pious : therein are rivers of incorruptible water ; and 
rivers of milk, [buttermilk, " Judge," of course is plenty,] 
the taste whereof changeth not ; and rivers of wine, plea- 
sant unto those who drink ; and rivers of clarified honey ; 
and therein shaU they have plenty of all kinds of fruits. 

" And there shall accompany them fair damsels having 
large black eyes ; resembling pearls hidden in their shells ; 
as a reward for that which they have wrought. {Koran, 
chaps. 18, 47, 56.) 

Now comparing the " Elysium" and the supernal gar- 
dens, with the scenes and descriptions of " Life in the 
Spheres," we can not fail to be struck with the substantial 
sameness in this particular, common to the three systems. 
Be sure, there are a few discrepancies, incoherencies, and 
inconsistencies permeating each other in our modern 
spirit revelations, not to be found in the other two ; but 
on the whole, in the light of Paganism and Mohammedan- 
ism, there is sufficient accuracy to justify the conclusion, 
that modern Spiritualism, is simply an improvement upon 



INTERNAL EVIDENCE. 257 

the former developments to suit our times, by the same 
spirit author who has ever operated upon mortals, 
through " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the 
pride of life." In the evident unity of design common 
to all three, there is evidence sufficiently conclusive, of 
the common authorship of all three ; and this belongs de- 
monstrably to the " Prince of the power of the air ;" 
and confessedly, too, because the spheres being below our 
moon, and their inhabitants having governments like 
those on earth, this Prince, like the Principle God, 
should also be a Principle subordinating all thhigs in the 
spheres. The New Testament only takes the liberty of 
making this a personal being, and calling him "The Devil." 

" Is heaven a place where pearly streams 

Glide over silver sand, 
Like childhood's rosy dazzling dreams 

Of some far fairy land ? 
Is heaven a clime where diamond dews 

Glitter on fadeless flowers, 
And mirth and music ring aloud 

From amaranthine bowers ? 

"Ah ! no ; not such, not such is heaven ! 

Surpassing far all these : 
Such can not be the guerdon given 

Man's wearied soul to please. 
For saint and sinner here below 

Such vain to be have proved ; 
And the pure spirit will despise 

"Whate'er the sense hath loved. 

" There we shall dwell with Father, Son, 
As is divinely said, 

And with the Holy Spirit one ; 
In glory like arrayed : 

And not to one created thing- 
Shall our embrace be given ; 

But all our joy shall be in God, 
For only God is heaven." 



258 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 



CHAPTER VI. 

"What concord hath Christ with Belial?"— 2 Cok. 6 : 15. 

THE GOOD AND EVIL OF SPIRITUALISM CONTRASTED. 

The Benefits of Spiritualism — A Catalogue — Clairvoyance tested — The 
other Side — Case of Doughty — Others— Spiritualistic Bigamy — Demoniac 
Murders and Suicides — Other Cases— The Wakemanites — Shocking 
Affair — Edmonds's List of Benefits reviewed — Davis's List of Benefits — 
Tallmadge's Letters — A Demon's Bible-Class ! 

The success of any new enterprise requires, that the 
men engaged in it should be able to set forth its advan- 
tages so as to interest and persuade ; for unless others 
can be made to see and appreciate it, there is an end to 
the fondliest cherished hope. 

None are better aware of this than Spiritualists, as we 
may judge from their vigorous use of the press. An 
almost endless variety of fact, anecdote, and grave dis- 
sertation, spread out hi books, pamphlets, and papers, 
have this end in view, namely, to persuade the reader 
of the superiority of this cause, as the true religion ; to 
prove it the best vehicle of divine benevolence / and to 
show the substantial good that accrues to every individual 
who has independence enough to reject the trammels of 
a false faith, and the false doctrines of popular theology ; 
who whl, upon the best evidence, consent to yield him- 
self up to a heaven-sent agency, designed to purify and 



A LIST OF BENEFITS. 259 

elevate the soul; and who will accept the best conso- 
lation that mourners can receive, a consolation that 
flows from actual intercourse and loving communion with 
the happy spirits of our departed friends, ever anxious 
to impress the living with the great fact of their own im- 
mortality, that thus we may realize ours. This is the 
burden of their teachings, both by the itinerant exposi- 
tor and the printed page. 

It is our design to show that this pretension is the very 
gist of the deception. This is no very hard task, for 
when one sits down calmly to an examination of the re- 
corded evidences of the good and the evil, and sifts out 
all the facts, the assertion, the declamation, the rhetorical 
flourishes, and rhapsodical effusion, to the bottom, he will 
be struck with the amazingly small residuum of good 
compared with the vast amount of evil, physical, mental, 
and moral, already realized in the infancy of this move- 
ment. 

Now we read the following suggestive fact in Matt. 4:9: 
"All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down 
and worship me." This was a mighty benefit offered, and 
Satan is just as accommodating now as he was in the 
days of Christ. We have no doubt that he will exert 
himself to do a great deal more in the way of " benevo- 
lence," when he finds his hook, so poorly baited, so quickly 
swallowed not only by gudgeons, eels, flat-fish, and small 
fry, but by some of the very leviathans of the deep. 

A specimen of the vast good accomplished, is given in 
the "Telegraph' 1 s answer to Rev. Mr. Mahan," pp. 22, 23 : 

" 1. Diseased persons who were regarded as incurable 
by ordinary professional modes, have been restored to 
health. 2. Many individuals have been mysteriously ad- 
monished of approaching danger ; several having been 
taken up bodily, or otherwise suddenly moved out of the 
way of impending destruction. 3. Others, being spiritu- 



260 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

ally influenced, have avoided collisions on railroads, ex- 
plosions, shipwrecks, and various disasters by land and 
sea. 4. Dishonest debtors have been compelled to leave 
home, and to travel hundreds of miles in search of those 
whom they had defrauded ; and they liave been forced 
to cancel the claims of their creditors. 5. Men who were 
formerly addicted to profanity, gambling, intemperance, 
tobacco-chewing, and other vicious or injurious practices, 
have been arrested and reformed. 6. Bar-rooms have 
been closed by the direction of spirits, and the proprie- 
tors have been induced to abandon the traffic in intoxicat- 
ing liquors. 1. Unprincipled men and lewd women have 
been developed as mediums, or otherwise assured of the 
presence of spirits, and by this means have been taken 
from houses of prostitution and led forth into the walks 
of virtuous society. 8. Persons while under spiritual in- 
fluence have been mysteriously moved and guided into 
strange places, where they have found others ready to 
perish with hunger, cold, or from some other cause ; and 
such persons have been saved from further suffering — 
perhaps from death — by the timely discovery of their 
situation," etc., etc. 

In answer to this, we have to say, that the number of 
cases at the best, allowing all this to be true, which allow- 
ance must be cum grano, is comparatively so small under 
each specification that it amounts almost to nothing in 
proof of the mighty claim set up. We contend that ex- 
traordinary claims must be sustained by corresponding 
proof, and that under circumstances which must be satis- 
factory to reasonable minds. Let us look at them for a 
moment. 

1. It is very possible, that diseased persons may be 
physicked to death, " by ordinary professional modes ;" 
and when one so reduced as to be given up by the phy- 
sicians, has left off taking medicine, he may recover. Such 
instances have been known everywhere ; but no one 
would think of attributing their restoration to spirits. 
It is not, however, stated here, how many deaths have 



A LIST OF EENEFITS. 261 

occurred in consequence of " diseased persons" trusting 
to the prescriptions of media. We believe that the 
spirits have Jcilled many more than they have cured. 

We met with the following announcement hi the 
Spiritual Telegraph of July 26th, 1856 : 

"clairvoyant examinations and treatment. 

" A. B. Smith, Rondout, N". Y., Clairvoyant and Spirit 
Medium for healing the sick. Mr. S. can examine 
patients at a distance by having their names and re- 
sidences submitted to his inspection. Each letter in which 
the writer requires such an examination must inclose one 
dollar. Each prescription, if the medicine be furnished, 
one dollar additional." 

Having a desire to test Clairvoyance, we determined 
to try it, and therefore wrote the following letter : 

' New- York, July 29th, 1856. 
Mr. A. B. Smith : 

Dear Sir: In looking over the Spiritual Telegraph 
to-day I noticed your advertisement, by which I perceive 
you can examine and prescribe for patients at a distance, 
by having their names and residence submitted to your 
inspection. I learn most of our mediums are now out 
of town. Not wishing to send to the residence of any 
upon an uncertainty, I have determined to send to you for 
an examination only. I wish to know whether I am per- 
manently diseased ; if so, or not, what is the part affect- 
ed, and what are my prospects, and is it worth while for 
me to do any thing ? I inclose the fee, hoping to hear 
from you, if possible, the latter part of this week. 
Please don't fail. I have, what I have sometimes seen 
described as, an " all-gone feeling." 

Yours truly, 

William R. Gordon. 

(Residence given.) 



262 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

To this I received in due time the following answer : 

"Rondout, Aug. 2, 1856. 
" William R. Goedon : 

" Deae Sik : yours July 29th is received and the money 
also we hav examined your case and it is represented 
to me that the diaphragm is affected also the inner coat- 
ing of the stomach also the liver and spleene is effected 
The urinary organs and kidneys are effected there is 
some scorfulous humor in the blood there is a weakness 
in the nerves of the back. It is represented you can be 
restored to comfortable health provining you can follow 
the directions. Yours truly, 

" A. B. Smith." 

This will do for Clairvoyance, and Spirit-cures. Mr. 
G. is in perfect health, and rarely otherwise ; he is able 
to go through as much labor as most men, every day, and 
that often protracted far into the night, without feeling 
any inconvenience, except occasionally the " all-gone 
feeling." Now if clairvoyance will load a healthy man 
with a multitude of disorders for one dollar, what will it 
do for a sick one ? Simply this. It will send him to 
dig yams upon the Judge's black sand plane, or to pro- 
gress in some other sphere ; unless a kind providence over- 
rules his folly : that's all. 

But we do not deny that some cures may have been 
effected apparently by very funny means. Thesamehave 
been done in all ages. Satan can afford even to multiply 
such specimens of benevolence, in consideration of the 
prodigious evil he may thereby accomplish by the instru 
mentality of energetic men, badly taken in. 

2. The mysterious admonitions may all be true, but 
that does not prove the value of Spiritualism, since they 
have occurred in cases where their subjects have accredit- 
ed them to the special providence of God, a doctrine 



A LIST OF BENEFITS. 263 

denied by Spiritualists ; and their opinion is justified by 
the teachings of Scripture on that subject. 

3. Because some men, by means of dreams, or otherwise, 
have avoided calamity, that does not prove the truth of 
Spiritualism, for such deliverances have often been effect- 
ed in those who have not had the privilege of spiritual- 
istic experience. It is not fair to deny the evidence of 
the plenary inspiration of the Bible, and then take the 
proof of one of its doctrines, and appropriate it to the 
support of a system opposed to the Bible. 

4. Conscience has forced dishonest men to make resti- 
tution, and while this known fact is before us, we can 
not accept similar facts as evidence for Spiritualism. 

5. With respect to the vices stated under this head, 
the writer knows media that live by spirit manifestations, 
and yet are addicted to some of them. 

6. As to the evidence arising from the closing of bar- 
rooms by the " direction of spirits," it is more than bal- 
anced by the opening of bar-rooms under their guidance : 
for bad spirits promote more misery by this means than 
any other that can be named. 

" 7. Unprincipled men and lewd women have been deve- 
loped as mediums." We have heard of this before, and 
know of a case where a principled man was made unprin- 
cipled by such development; for after making money 
enough at his new business to pay his board, he spent it 
instead, at " houses of prostitution," and finally ran away 
and defrauded the man with whom he boarded, of some 
fifty dollars. Cases like this, go to invalidate the special 
claim made in behalf of Spiritualism. 

8. As to the mysterious guidance of persons into 
strange places where they have saved others ready to 
perish, we can not see how this can make weight for 
Spiritualism, because we have often read of the same 



264 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

things being done by dogs ; but perhaps dogs, in the 
opinion of our philosophers, may be the subjects of 
spiritual influence as well as men. 

Four other specifications of the wonderful good accom- 
plished by Spiritualism are given, much weaker than the 
foregoing. Instead of examining them, perhaps we may 
as well give some specimens of the evil produced. If 
this be great, then our argument is complete against 
these shallow pretensions. 

We quote from a work entitled " Spiritualism against 
Christianity, by Rev. J. W. Daniels," which we take the 
liberty of commending to the attention of both friends 
and foes of this movement. It is the best for common 
readers, that we have seen of all the answers, investigations, 
etc., of the advocates of Christianity, a very few of whom 
have had either time or inclination to bestow upon this 
seemingly absurd theme : 

" A FAMILY RUINED BY SPIRITUALISM. 

" Mr. George Doughty, a respectable farmer of Flush- 
ing, Long Island, ' possessed of considerable property, hav- 
ing his interest excited by the reports of the doings 
of the mediums of this mischievous and absurd de- 
lusion, resolved to seek out one of the professors of the 
Spiritual doctrines, and make himself acquainted with the 
mysteries which they pretend to disclose. With that in- 
tention he proceeded to the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he was introduced to a professed medium, a 
lady named Mrs. French, whom, after a short acquaint- 
ance, he invited to visit him and his family on Long 
Island ; and from that time — some years ago — up to with- 
in a recent date, she has been a constant visitor at the 
farmer's house, where she was, at the wish of the unfor- 
tunate man, treated as one of the family. 

" ' A few weeks since, however, she arrived in the city 



EVILS PRODUCED. 265 

of New-York, and instead of proceeding direct to the 
farmer's, as she was wont to do, took rooms at the Irving 
House, where she was acconrpaniedby a strange man, who, 
she informed the farmer upon visiting her, was about writing 
an interesting legend of the spirit-land, she furnishing 
the materials and the matter. Such was the influence she 
had acquired over the farmer, and the strange delusion 
under which she labored, that she induced him to adopt 
her as his daughter, and finally to make over to her near- 
ly his entire property. 

'"The wife of the unfortunate victim endeavored to 
restrain him in his mad career, but did not succeed. By 
threats of violence, he compelled his gentle partner to 
make an assignment of her interest in his affairs to him ; 
after which, he proceeded to convert his effects into cash — 
which amounted to about 15,000 dollars in all — and this he 
immediately paid over to the medium at the Irving Honse, 
upon which the latter took French leave and departed, 
going, it is reported, back to Pittsburgh. The next day 
he seemed partly to realize the extent of his foUy, and 
called upon his friend the medium — but lo, and behold ! 
the charming creature was missing, as was also the fabu- 
lous book-writer. He then asked to be shown to the 
room she had occupied, and declared he would commit 
suicide. His request was of course refused, and he was 
driven from the house. He then proceeded to the resi- 
dence of an acquaintance in New- York, and there repeat- 
ed his determination to shuffle off this mortal coil. He 
finally went home, and his friends, with very natural mis- 
givings as to the propriety of permitting him to have un- 
limited liberty, had him arrested and conveyed to the 
New- York Lunatic Asylum, where he now remains a con- 
firmed lunatic. * * * The victim of the con- 
spiracy is the father of two very interesting daughters, 
and has many respectable relatives and connections in this 
city, whose feelings with regard to the sad event may be 
easily imagined. Such are the particulars of one of the 
most infamous cases of heartless fraud and delusion which 
has probably ever been recorded. The reputed medium 
is reported to be an abandoned female of the worst cha- 
racter.' — Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Feb. 25, 1852." 



266 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Mr. Doughty was personally known to the present 
writer. His family lives within the neighborhood of 
Flushing, and the above facts are well attested, though 
related in a much milder way than the terrible circum- 
stances would naturally suggest to most men who are 
accustomed to chronicle passing events. 

This medium, is now or lately has been, in this city, do- 
ing a thriving business, if we may credit the accounts we 
hear. Now, if our Spiritualists are such benevolent, good 
men as they say their system makes them, why do they 
countenance one who has been the author of so much mis- 
ery to the estimable family of poor Doughty ? 

" The following heart-rending cases were published in 
the JV. Y. Medical Gazette : 

" ' A case of insanity has occurred within a few days, 
by reason of the revelation made by mysterious raps, that 
the steamship Atlantic had been wrecked, with the loss of 
all on board; although since this melancholy catastrophe, 
the passengers, whose " spirits" were declared to have made 
the rapping, have arrived at home — one of them to find 
his wife a maniac, from a belief in these ghostly knock- 
ings. Another female has just been sent to the asylum, 
by reason of the mesmeric operations upon her nervous 
system, avowedly for the purpose of rendering her clair- 
voyant, but with the effect of dooming her to lunacy. 
And these recent instances are not merely isolated cases, 
for in several of the asylums the victims of these kindred 
impostures are hopelessly insane.' 

SPIRITUALISTIC BIGAMY. 

" ' A singular case of bigamy recently occurred in this 
city, which illustrates the new uses to which spirit 
raps may be appropriated. A woman named Susan A. 
Hubbard was arrested for the above offense, and taken 
before Justice Osborne, of the Lower Police Court, for a 



EVILS PRODUCED. 267 

hearing, on the 20th hist. It was alleged that she had 
three or four husbands ; but it was necessary only 
to prove the existence of two marriages. Rev. Mr. Sag- 
gart, (Taggart,) a Baptist clergyman, one of the witnesses, 
identified the prisoner as the person whom he had some 
years since married to Hubbard. Hubbard himself was 
present, and was identified by the witness — thus proving 
that he was not dead, but had unfortunately " turned 
up." 

" 'The second husband (or rather one of the subsequent 
husbands) was also present, and swore to his recent mar- 
riage with the defendant. Mr. Smucker, the counsel for 
the prosecution, wished to know the circumstances under 
which the last marriage had been brought about. The 
witness, Henry ~W. Smith, was a schoolmaster. He had 
first met the prisoner at an assemblage of Spiritualists on 
the corner of Broadway and Lispenard street. She was 
a prominent member of # the circle which met there from 
time to time, to summon the world of spirits to their pre- 
sence and interrogate them. The prisoner graduaUy be- 
came acquainted with the witness, (a robust, good-looking 
young man,) and having conceived a passion for him, set 
about the work of inducing him to marry her. He heard 
that she had former husbands, and wished to know if they 
were dead. At the next meeting she summoned the 
whole of them from the land of shadows, and made them 
all, one after the other, testify to the fact that they were 
dead, (in the body,) and give other interesting items as 
to their spiritual condition. The young man, being a firm 
believer in Spiritualism, could not, of course, deny such 
evidence ; and being attracted by the smartness, intelli- 
gence, and good looks of the " medium," he married her. 
Not long after, he discovered that her " spiritual manifes- 
tations," were lying manifestations, and that there were 
three or four other claimants to the possession of his wife, 
one of whom was black /' — New -York paper. 

DEMONIAC MURDERS AND SUICIDES. 

'"Matthew Langdon, a printer in this city, 38 years 
of age, followed up the circles and consulted the spirits, 



268 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

out of anxiety to become a seeing medium, till lie was in- 
stigated to cut his throat, which ultimately caused his 
death. 

" ' Dr. Elliot, surgeon at the Bellevue Hospital, to 
which Mr. Langdon was sent after his throat was cut, 
testified : " He told us he had been influenced by spiritual 
manifestations to commit suicide." ' — New- York Times, 
Jan. 8, 1853. 



" ' Two girls in Lawrence, Mass., a few years since, one 
the daughter of Mr. Ramsdell, a medium, believed the he 
which the spirits then taught, that all were happier after 
death, and determined to commit suicide. When pur- 
chasing laudanum for this purpose, the druggist inquired 
what they wished it for. They replied, ' To cure the ear 
ache.' The laudanum was taken, and, if we recollect 
right, proved fatal with one of them. 

" ' Mr. Samuel Cole, residing in Washington County, 
Ohio, who was made insane from the workings of the 
spirit-rapping delusion, became possessed of the idea that 
he must offer, like Abraham, a sacrifice to the Supreme 
Ruler of the Universe. He accordingly proceeded to 
carry his object into execution, by taking off one of his 
feet, which he succeeded in doing some days since, m a 
very scientific manner, and with an heroic determination 
that would compare with the self-sacrificing deeds done 
in the earlier ages. His family, fearing that some other 
of his limbs might be demanded in a like cause, had him 
conveyed to the Lunatic Asylum at Columbus, where he 
is now in the enjoyment of as much liberty as the nature 
of his disease will warrant.' — Register, Phila., Feb. 28, 
1853. 



"A correspondent of the Puritan Recorder, in 1852, 
supposed to have been Dr. Enoch Pond, of Bangor, Me., 
said : ' Only a few days ago the papers gave an account 
of a man in Barre, Mass., who had been much given to 
the rappings and other spiritual manifestations, who be- 
came a raving maniac, threatened the life of his family, 
and was committed to the Lunatic Asylum near Worces- 



EVILS PRODUCED. 269 

ter. He was led to attempt the life of his family in obe- 
dience to a supposed revelation from the spirit world.' 

" ' Almira Bezely, a medium in Providence, R. I., pre- 
dicted that her infant brother would die at a specified 
time, and then bought arsenic, with which she poisoned 
him ! On her trial for murder, Samuel B. Holliday testi- 
fied : " It was in evidence before the [coroner's] jury, that 
the death of the child was predicted by the rappings. My 
impression is that the child died at about the time pre- 
dicted. I do not think she could have committed the 
crime without this influence." ' — Providence Journal, 
October 22, 1851. 

" ' This case illustrates the mode by which the spirits 
sometimes verify their predictions ! 

" ' Mr. Brittan says : " Under the head of ' Spiritual 
Diabolism,' an exchange paper has the following : ' The 
spirits are inciting their victims to all sorts of nefarious 
deeds. Here is an instance : F. A. Edwards, at Equi- 
nank, Pa., a medium, thinks that one of the spirits commu- 
nicating through him is the Devil, to whom, as directed, 
he offered a sacrifice of burnt cats. Then the spirit told 
him he must kill his daughter and an apprentice-boy at 
work in his shop, and offer them up. He told his folks 
that the spirit had directed him so to do, and he must clo 
so. Fearful lest he should do so, as he appeared perfect- 
ly under the control of the so-called spirit, indeed, per- 
fectly insane, his friends had him placed under restraint.' " 
—Telegraph, May 12, 1855. 

" ' Judge Edmonds relates " that an evil spirit visited 
one of his circles, took possession of Mrs. S., the medium, 
manifested a very unhappy frame of mind, sometimes 
setting the company at defiance and acted as though he 
hated them. The medium was very much distressed by 
the whole thing, frequently wept bitterly, and resisted as 
far as she was able ; but he seemed to have obtained en- 
tire possession of her, compelling her to do and to say 
things which she would gladly have avoided." After oc- 
cupying their attention for most of the evening, " he 
left her, but not until he had thrown her upon the floor in 
great distress.' 1 '' ' (Spiritualism, p. 464.) 



270 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

"'Amherst' says, in Telegraph, No. 182, he 'has seen 
mediums rolling on the floor, uttering grunts like swine ; 
giving vent to the most hideous yells ; and at times beat- 
ing their bodies and tearing their hair like lunatics. If 
we are doomed to see a beautiful faith disfigured with 
such manifestations as we sometimes now receive, let us 
pray that there may be some one raised up amongst us 
who shall be endowed with power to cast out the " un- 
clean spirits." ' 

" ' Philip Jarret's daughter, aged fifteen, of Belmont 
County, Ohio, was singularly affected from October, 1851, 
to March, 1852. She had paroxysms of extreme profan- 
ity and obscenity, though uniformly decent when in 
health. They held her, at times, to keep her from biting 
her own limbs. During her illness the dwelling-house 
was much annoyed by raps from invisible powers. A re- 
putable witch-doctor was called in the latter part of Feb., 
1852. He made passes, or operated by the laying on of 
hands. She then recovered suddenly, (in a few minutes, 
her father says,) and the noises ceased. She had been 
attended in the fall and winter by allopathic doctors who 
did not consider her insane, but devilish. 

" ' Mr. Pinel — quoted by Dr. Rush in his lecture on Me- 
dical Jurisprudence, p. 382 — mentions the case of a man 
who had a murdering impulse " in no degree obedient to 
his will," but whose memory, judgment, and imagination 
were perfectly sound. The doctor reports several cases 
similar, in which persons apparently sane have committed 
hostilities on themselves, wives, or children, without know- 
ing a cause for it. Whether these persons owe their af- 
flictions to the cause stated in the 5th of Mark as affecting 
the man who was ' always crying, and cutting himself with 
stones,' until delivered of the unclean spirits by Christ, 
may deserve consideration. His cutting himself was sui- 
cidaV 

" ' When one is diseased in the will, and hostile to him- 
self, though in other respects rational, he may be possess- 
ed by a spirit, who controls his actions, and makes him 
commit such hostilities. The case of Jarret's daughter 
seems to indicate demesmerization as a curative ; also that 



EVILS PRODUCED. 2*71 

in Mark 5 ; Christ, in Matthew 12 : 27, implies that others 
cast out spirits as well as he : " If I by Beelzebub cast out 
devils, by whom do your children cast them out?" Jo- 
sephus, in the 8th book of Jewish Antiquities, chapter 2d, 
speaks of it as a sanative practice, and that he had seen 
one Eleazer do it in the presenceof the Emperor Vespasian ; 
and that he placed a bowl of water before the patient, and 
commanded the spirit to upset it as he passed out. 

" ' As to the power of evil spirits to take possession of 
one, there may be causes for it, both moral and physical. 
Touching the case of Knightsville, our guardian spirits 
may be repelled by extreme perverseness, leaving us to 
be controlled by bad spirits, whose presence is said to be 
known by a certain feeling of despondency and uneasi- 
ness. The same causes that make our neighbors despise 
us, may make the spirits despise us, and abandon us to 
bad spirits, obduracy, hardness of heart, or utter disregard 
of truth, if it conflicts with prejudice — persisting to hold 
the same opinion, if convinced against the will. No 
offense against the Holy Ghost or the laws of nature is 
forgiven. Who walks over a precipice in contempt of 
the law of gravity, will suffer the penalty. Who retains 
the same opinion still, if convinced against his will, must 
disgust all good spirits. They can not cling to him with 
pleasure, and if forsaken by them, the bad may possess 
him, and make him war on himself as he warred on the 
truth, bite his own limbs, thrust his hand into the fire, mur- 
der his wife and children, take poison, or the halter. 

" « Thos. H. Genin. 

ut JSt. Clairsville, Ohio, Dec. 17, 1854."' 
— Spiritual Telegraph, May 12, 1855. 

It is well known that the horrid murders recently com- 
mitted in Connecticut by the Wakemanites were in con- 
sequence of intercourse with spirits. 

" It was agreed among them that Mr. Matthews, the 
victim, ' had a bad spirit,' that he came to Mrs. Wake- 
man's house, ' with his hands tied to get rid of his bad 
spirit,' that 'he was hurting her with his bad spirit,' 
that ' he wanted the evil spirit out, and said, " You had 



272 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

better kill me," that Uncle Sammy said " We had better 
take a stick and knock this evil spirit out of him," ' that 
' Mrs. Hersey said, " The witch-hazel stick was better than 
any other," ' that Mr. Jackson ' believed that witch-hazel 
would keep away evil spirits ; that they gave him a walk- 
ing-stick of witch-hazel to keep away the evil spirit,' that 
he ' told Mr. Sly that he had better strike Matthews only 
one blow, and that might break the " power." ' Mr. Sly, 
like all demoniacs, ' appeared extremely nervous. He 
said " I cut this witch-hazel stick about two weeks ago ; 
I believe there is great power in the hazel ; thought I 
might drive out the evil spirit, and break the enchant- 
ment by tea made of the bark ; I struck Mr. Matthews 
on the right temple with this stick ; he feU down and did 
not say a word ; I struck him several times after he was 
down ; I did this for fear he would cast his evil spirit on 
my sister ; I held up his head and cut his throat several 
times, and stabbed the fork into his breast several times. 
The influence I was wider led me to do this ; I was in- 
fluenced by a wrong spirit to go further than I had anti- 
cipated, or had any idea of."'' — Daily Tribune, December 
28, 1855." 

We clipped the folio whig from the New - York Times, 
Dec. 21, 1855: 

"SHOCKING AFFAIR — THE FRUITS OF SPIRITUALISM. 

From the P Mladelphia Evening Bulletin. 

" This morning, at an early hour, much excitement was 
created in the Second Ward by the attempt of a man 
named John Crowley to murder his mother, Mrs. Mary 
Crowley. The family resides in Mechanic street, near 
Parker. This morning John entered the chamber of his 
mother, armed with a hatchet, and struck her upon the 
head with the weapon while she was lying in bed. The 
hatchet was fortunately dull, and the wound inflicted was 
not serious. The mother clutched at the weapon, and the 
son attempted to cut off her hand. Her cries finally 
brought her husband to her assistance, and the son es- 
caped half-dressed from the house during the confusion. 



EVILS PRODUCED. 273 

" Mrs. Crowley received two wounds in the head, and 
one in the wrist, but neither are considered dangerous. A 
report was current during the morning, that the mother had 
died from her injuries, but there is no truth in the story. 
The son was subsequently found wandering about Inde- 
pendence Square. He was arrested and placed in the lock- 
up at the City Hall. 

" It seems that the woidd-be matricide has been insane 
through the influence of Spiritualism, for two years. Last 
night he seemed more wild than usual, and took the hat- 
chet to bed with him, without the knowledge of the rest 
of the family. This morning he attacked his mother, as 
has been already stated, for the purpose of ' knocking 
some sense into her,' as he said. He will probably be 
sent to the Almshouse, or to the Pennsylvania Hospital, 
and arrangements to that effect are being made." 

The author of a late medical work, a physician of this 
city, thus writes : "I regret to say that a prolific cause 
of derangement, one pregnant with evil, is now tolerated 
by the authorities in this city. I mean the sacrilegious 
exhibitions of the ' Spirit-Rappers.' Mind after mind has 
become insane upon this subject, and if the reports of our 
Lunatic Asylums be true, many are completely dement- 
ed." Facts, then, it would seem, in his opinion, warrant 
a special law against this nuisance, as much as against 
any productive source of pestilence or misery. To pro- 
tect themselves from this, our Spiritualists hoist the flag 
of Religion. 

Such are a few of the terrible effects of Spiritualism. 
We think they are its legitimate fruits, and when we are 
brought, in the face of such facts, to the review of the 
good performed, we think our contrast greatly tends to 
strengthen the previous argument, assigning the whole 
movement to the unmistakable agency of the Devil, who 
was " a murderer from the beginning." 
12* 



274 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

We take another brief synopsis of the advantages of 
Spiritualism, to which we shall pay our respects, from a 
"Reply to Bishop Hopkins on Spiritualism, by Judge 
Edmonds," pp. 8, 9 : 

" Briefly, then, to sum up the argument : Spiritualism 
prevents hypocrisy ; it deters from crime ; it reclaims 
the infidel ; it proves the immortality of the soul ; it re- 
cognizes one God, and man's responsibility to him ; it 
enforces the great law of the Creator, by inducements 
hitherto unknown to man ; it heals the sick ; it gives 
sight to the blind ; it cures the lame ; it comforts the 
mourner ; it enjoins upon all the utmost purity of life ; it 
teaches that charity which rather mourns over than re- 
joices at the failings of our fellow-mortals ; and it reveals 
to us our own nature, and what is the existence into 
which we are to pass when this life shall have ended." 

Here, then, we have the whole in a nutshell. Let us 
examine it briefly. 

1. It prevents hypocrisy. How? "We are told, by 
"enabling us to know the thoughts and purposes, the 
secret intentions and character of those living around 
us !" 

Now we hazard nothing in saying, this pretense is 
impious and absurd. It is impious, because Spiritualism 
presumes to appropriate a prerogative of the Almighty 
which he gives to no angel, much less to a mortal. 
" Jehovah searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the 
imaginations of the thoughts." (1 Ch. 28:6.) " For thou, 
even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of 
men." (1 Kings 8 : 39.) We shall not apologize for 
quoting the authority of the Bible against that of the 
Judge : for we hold the former unimpeachable, and we 
have proved the spirits with whom he communicates to 
be deceivers. It is absurd, by the fact, that we have in 



SECOND LIST OF BENEFITS. 275 

our keeping the evidence of the grossest hypocrisy prac- 
tised by some of the notables of Spiritualism in the prose- 
cution of their business, which is very disgraceful ; and 
by the fact, that no Spiritualist in the exercise of this 
pretended power has been known to forestall the evil 
purposes of wicked men around them. Lavater will 
help them much better than their spiritual gift of dis- 
cernment in this particular. 

2. It deters crime. Let facts already related disprove 
this allegation. The truth is, Spiritualism itself, as shown 
by its volumes, is a vast comprehensive system of sin 
against God, and crime against man. The evidence is 
given. 

3. It reclaims the infidels. But it has not reclaimed 
Dr. Hare ; it has confirmed him. To say that it convinces 
of immortality, is nothing to the purpose, because it is 
acknowledged that the very source of proof upon which 
Spiritualism rests for its demonstration, has existed from 
the beginning of the world. 

We are told, " it demonstrates the immortality of the 
soul by an appeal to the senses. Hitherto the appeal has 
been to abstract reasoning." Now the Judge has given, 
in quotations from the Bible, a long list of angels who are 
held to be the spirits of dead men, and whose appearances 
from the beginning down to the end of revelation, are 
appealed to. The numerous recorded appearances and 
spiritual manifestations in all ages among the heathen 
might have also been given. All these were " appeals to 
the senses," hence it is not true that, " hitherto," depen- 
dence rests upon abstract reasoning. Revelation is to be 
accredited with all the reliable proof that flowed from this 
source, long before the Judge existed ; and it is there- 
fore simply ridiculous for modern Spiritualists to set up a 
claim to which, by their own showing, they are not enti- 



276 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

tied, even were their " familiars" truthful spirits. Mr. 
Capron assures us that the stolid atheist can get his views 
endorsed by spirits, " and good ones too," as readily as 
the most devout religionist. If this be so, he may be as- 
sured of annihilation as the ultimate destiny of the soul. 
What, then, becomes of the " demonstration" ? 

4. It proves the immortality of the soul. How can it 
prove that which has ever been proved, or how can it 
lay claims to demonstrate that which has been demon- 
strated in every age, by better arguments of the same 
sort they boast of? 

Paul says : " Our Saviour Jesus Christ, hath brought 
life and immortality to light through the Gospel." (2 Tim. 
1:10.) And this Gospel was preached or proclaimed by 
the immortal Son of God unto Abraham y and hence, by 
an appeal to his senses and his reason, immortality was 
demonstrated by the Author of it. Hence Christ is the 
demonstrator, and not lying spirits. The world is no 
wiser now on that subject than it was before the fathers 
of our authors were born. 

5. It recognizes one God, and maris responsibility to 
him." Most wonderful! Is this also claimed as an 
original idea of the spirits, incorporated in the new reli- 
gion? Does Spiritualism demand respect and merit 
because it does not worship idols of wood and stone, or 
because it is not a system of Polytheism ? We, however, 
dispute this claim. The Judge, and other gentlemen who 
are the pillars of the fabric, must prove recreant to the 
spirits if they believe in a personal God. 

These " immortal advisers" sturdily denounce that, and 
say that God is a principle ! Nay, they go farther. They 
say that every human soul is a part of God himself and 
that its only impediment to the exertion of the Divine 
attributes, is its present relations to matter ! This doc- 
trine was taught by the Devil in the garden of Eden. 



SECOND LIST OF BENEFITS. 277 

"With him the spirits agree, therefore, and as he " was a 
liar from the beginning," we must infer that they are of 
his clan, and the system they teach is pantheism ! 

6. It enforces the great law of the Creator by induce- 
ments hitherto unknown to man/ 

We deny this allegation in every syllable of its utter- 
ance, and affirm there is not a shadow of proof for it in 
all the writings of Spiritualists. 

7. It heals the sick. Why not prove this by going 
to our hospitals and restoring the unfortunate sufferers 
to health and its comforts ? 

Our Spiritualists are reduced to this dilemma : If they 
are, as they claim, preeminently imbued with brotherly 
love and high benevolence, and if they are possessed of 
the power to heal the sick, then by the very terms of the 
claim, they are bound at least to make^a formal trial in 
every hospital of our city, or stand convicted of impos- 
ture. 

8. It gives sight to the blind, and cures the lame. 
We are told there are hundreds and thousands who 
have witnessed these wonders, and the Judge puts this 
sentence in italics : every man icho pleases can behold 
them for himself. Now, it has not only been our pleasure 
but our anxious effort to test this claim ; but in vain. 
We have relatives and friends blind and lame, and desire 
above all things to have our Spiritualists try their power ; 
but they are afraid to undertake. If every man who 
pleases can behold these things, nothing could be more 
beneficial to the cause, than an agreement between its 
friends and skeptics upon a visit to our asylums. The 
thing is needed for the immense good that will follow to 
all parties concerned, without detriment to any, unless 
the experiment might happen to fail. Will a response 
come to this call, adopting a test of some value ? Come, 
gentlemen, we are ready. Let there be no shuffling. 



278 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

Here are our unfortunates who would be glad of relief; 
here are multitudes who would he thankful for the de- 
monstration, and would well appreciate the argument. 
What say you ? Is not the proposition fair ? 

9. It reveals — what is the existence into which we pass 
when this life shall have ended. The Judge says : " I 
have known this attempted hy many divines, but I never 
knew any two of them to agree in their description. 
Whereas, in these revelations, there is no discrepancy on 
this point." Indeed ! How comes it, then, that Dr. Hare's 
" convocation of spirits" ratifying his spirit father's de- 
scription, " that the spheres are concentric with the earth," 
and " more than one hundred thousand miles below the 
moon," is contradicted by the Judge's spirits, who consign 
the departed to different planets f Is there no discre- 
pancy here ? How is it, that Monsieur Cahagnet's ecstatic 
somnambulists make the wicked in the second sphere, all 
comparatively happy, notwithstanding their degradation, 
while the Judge himself describes the wretchedness of 
their condition as he saw them, on the black sand-plain ? 
ISTo discrepancy here ? How is it about the " saw-mill" 
and the " drink of buttermilk" ? O Infatuation ! what 
hast thou done ? As to the descriptions given by clergy- 
men, they are taken from the Bible, which does not de- 
scribe but by symbols designed to convey the idea of in- 
describable happiness. Hence they can not differ so long 
as they insist upon this idea, any more than astronomers 
differ in their descriptions of Saturn and Jupiter. 

Perhaps we may be charged with the same dishonesty 
set down to the account of Bishop Hopkins. Of him he 
says, p. 9 : 

" I do not learn that in reading extracts from my book 
he departed from the practice of his calling, namely, 
that of drawing particular passages from their context, 



THIRD LIST OF BENEFITS. 279 

and thus giving them a very different meaning from the 
true one — a practice which I do not hold very high 
either in law or Gospel, and which I have often seen 
excite the smiles of contempt among the intelligent minds 
in church." 

We have given paragraph after paragraph, and are 
really sorry that our space would allow of no more. 
There is enough, however, of text and context, we hope, to 
satisfy any reasonable man, that we have practised no 
unfairness in our quotations, while at the same time we 
pronounce the insinuation of the Judge against ministers 
of the Gospel, an unmitigated slander, of which, consider- 
ing his profession, he ought not to have been guilty. 

The last list of the " advantages" of Spiritualism we 
take from Davis's " Penetralia," p. 209: 

" Does Spiritualism have this (' practical benefit') 
effect on humanity ? 

" Yes ; Spiritualism, in addition to its scientific bene- 
fits, has brought to light many important religious truths, 
among which are the following : 

"1. It proves that man is an organized substantial 
spirit. 

" 2. It proves that his organized spirit is immortal. 

" 3. It proves that his immortality consists of an infinite 
series of social, moral, and intellectual progressions. 

" 4. It proves that all spirits advance from lower to 
higher degrees of existence. 

"5. It proves that this world is not a providentially 
probationary ' vale of tears' — that it is not a fleeting 
show, for man's illusion given — but that it is the beginning 
of his eternal and more blessed career. 

" 6. It proves that the popular doctrine of ' total de- 
pravity' is false ; that mankind, as well as all nature, is 
progressive, ascending from every kind and shade of 
imperfection. 

" 7. It proves that the popular doctrine of 'hell punish- 
ments' is false : that instead, each individual is obliged. 



280 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

by a law of his own being, to work out, either in this life 
or the next, his own salvation from error and aU manner 
of sinfulness. ~No vicarious atonement, because punish- 
ment or pain is the legitimate and inevitable result of 
transgression. 

" These are a few of the prominent ' practical benefits' 
of Spiritualism. How unspeakably superior is all this to 
modern theology! Modern theology can not prove the 
immortality of the soul ; nor can it demonstrate any thing 
to the satisfaction of intelligent minds, except this — that 
it originated in the East, in the darkest recesses of tradi- 
tion and superstition, and that, in its present form, it 
has proved itself quite incapable of blessing and harmo- 
nizing mankind." 

The first thing here said to be proved is an absurdity : 
" Man is an organized substantial spirit" ! There never 
was such a man upon the face of the earth. Man is 
composed of an organized body and a rational soul, both 
equally real subsistences. 

The second thing said to be proved is that " his organ- 
ized spirit is immortal." There never was such a spirit 
on the earth. Attributes are not organs, and hence there 
is no immortality to a thing that never existed. 

The third thing is more ridiculous. Immortality con- 
sists of an infinite series of social, moral, and intellectual 
progressions. Mortality, then, must be a finite series of 
the same sort ! 

The fourth loses nothing in the way of absurdity : 
" All spirits advance from lower to higher degrees of 
existence." We can understand that there are different 
grades of excellence in existence, but the fact of exist- 
ence can admit of no degrees. Hence there is no proof 
in the case. 

The fifth proposition is contradicted, first, by the fact 
that nobody ever has said the world was any such place 
as described, nor given for any such purpose as hinted at ; 



THIKD LIST OF BENEFITS. 281 

and second, by the spirits themselves, who affirm the pre- 
existence of souls. Hence the world is not proved " the 
beginning of his eternal and more blessed career." 

The sixth proposition is contradicted by all the world 
in general, and by this author in particular, whose various 
productions are so many "manifestations" of "total de- 
pravity" as to his reason and his reasoning. 

The seventh proposition is contradicted by spirits, in all 
its particulars, as well as affirmed. Hence nothing is 
proved. Besides, it is a slap in the face of truth, brought 
to our understandings and our hearts by the Bible, which 
the author, it would seem, thinks it an important part of 
his mission to vilify and cry down. 

Such are the " prominent practical benefits" of Spiritu- 
alism. They are fair to look upon, like the apples of 
Sodom, but when they are examined they contain 
nothing but dust and gas. These are offered us as spirit- 
ual food, while the author last named does his best (and 
that is poorly done) to degrade the Bible, pour out his 
contempt upon its doctrines, burlesque " modern theolo- 
gy," and in his ignorance and wickedness revile the min 
istry of reconciliation. Now as many media put out 
their " tins," like other, professional gentlemen, we suggest 
that his be garnished with this most pathetic stanza, and 
surrounded by a border of amaranthine flowers and 
spiritual fruit : 

"Who killed Cock Robin? 
I, said the sparrow, 
With my bow and arrow ; 
/killed Cock Robin." 

"We have given but a sample of the evils already real- 
ized in the march of Spiritualism. We have not given 
any of the family broils occasioned, such as results from 
spirits assuring a father that one of his children was not 



282 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

his, and other such things. We have said little of the 
thousands demented and otherwise ruined by this wretch- 
ed business ; but we have shown enough to nullify the 
pretensions made to great personal benefit. 

Contrast the miserable " advantages," as above giv- 
en, with the tribulation and anguish consequent upon 
our rebutting facts, and we think it will be apparent to 
every reader, divesting himself of prejudice, that the for- 
mer by no means furnish adequate evidence in favor of 
the claims of the system. So far from this, they are 
quite compatible with our explanation referring the whole 
to infernal agency. And when we take into the count 
the admissions of Spiritualists already noticed, it is per- 
fectly demonstrable that a very large balance of probabil- 
ities are on our side of the question, while of course they 
have nothing of certainty to boast of, in a matter where 
certainty is most needed. 

"We say the manifestations of this movement are all the 
work of bad spirits — lying, deceiving spirits. We say 
this is beyond any reasonable doubt, and our opponents 
can not successfully deny it. We have proved it to be a 
fact, and they can not disprove what we have thus 
established. They may answer and argue, but after they 
have done so to their hearts' content, they can never in- 
validate the proof of our position. 

But Governor Talhnadge says, in his letter to Hon. Mr. 
Simmons : " Many persons, unable to resist the evidence 
of the spiritual source of these communications, are finally 
compelled to admit them, and, as a last resort, charge 
them as emanating from evil spirits. I consider this as 
giving up the controversy. There may be communica- 
tions from evil spirits ; but that does not conflict with the 
communications which bear internal evidence of coming 
from the 'spirits of just men made perfect.' " 



WHAT IS PROVED. 283 

This is an extraordinary paragraph. What is the con- 
troversy ? That these manifestations come from our 
departed friends. They who deny this proposition, 
surely, can not be said to yield the controversy by refer- 
ring the phenomena to evil spirits ; because such exist, 
and it is admitted such do communicate, and that they 
are able to deceive, and do deceive. Now we simply 
" try the spirits" by the tout ensemble of the whole mat- 
ter. We have given a three-fold test, by which it 
may be tried by others : our own experience, the internal 
evidence of spirit literature, and the Bible. Mr. Tall- 
madge says, (Appendix to vol. i. of Spiritualism, pp. 440, 
461:) 



" I have always maintained, and still maintain, that these 
' spirit manifestations' go to confirm the great and leading 
doctrines of Christianity. If they differ in any respect 
from the particular tenets of the denomination to which 
this writer belongs, it is no greater difference than that 
which he will hear from the pulpits of other denomina- 
tions every Sunday of his life ! And still, all denomina- 
tions maintain the great and leading doctrines of 
Christianity, and all go to the Bible to establish the par- 
ticular tenets which constitute the discrepancies between 
each other. 

" Those who have known me best and longest know 
that I have always maintained the great truths of the 
Bible, as the anchor of our hope; that skepticism has 
never darkened my mental vision y that I have contributed 
as much as any one, according to my ability, in the circu- 
lation of the Bible, and in the building and establishment 
of churches to propagate the truth of its doctrines. I 
have seen nothing in these ' spiritual manifestations' to 
change my opinions, but much to confirm them. And 
still, by a total perversion of what I have said, I am gra- 
ciously charged as authority for ' rank blasphemy.' I bow 
with deep humility to the over-righteousness of this in- 
cognito of the Intelligencer, and confess with shame that, 



284 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

with all ray efforts to live up to the doctrines of the 
Bible which he and I profess, I have come so far short of 
the requirements of that sacred volume. From the appa- 
rent sanctity which he has thrown around himself, I feel 
that I am following him in his career of righteousness, 
as lulus followed JSneus from the flames of Troy, hated 
passibus cequis. But I am not as one without hope. 
From my investigation of Spiritualism I am getting the 
fundamental truths of the Bible reaffirmed." 

This letter was written May, 1853. We have proved 
that the spirits teach the most revolting doctrines to Prof. 
Hare, who has long been in the sea of infidelity, swimming 
at the bottom. We have proved that the spirits teach 
the principal parts of the same system of infidelity to 
Judge Edmonds and Dr. Dexter, though in a less revolt- 
ing way, because they have previously, at least, respected 
Christianity. We now prove that they affirm the funda- 
mental truths of the Bible to a gentleman whose mental 
vision was never darkened by skepticism, and to whom 
the Bible has been the anchor of his hope ! What are 
we to make of this ? Here we have verified the assertion 
of Mr. Capron, previously quoted, that the most confirm- 
ed atheist can get his views sanctioned by spirits, as rea- 
dily as the most devout believer in any of the thousand 
forms in which popular theology has clothed the Author of 
nature ! 

Thus we see that the spirits conform themselves to the 
likes and dislikes of men on the matter of religion ; and 
thus, in this stratagem, confirm our previous remarks 
upon their character, and demonstrate themselves to be 
the agents of the devil, whose object it is to ruin the 
souls of men. 

If, however, the spirits do not succeed in their confirma- 
tion of the Bible to the Governor better than in the fol- 
lowing instance, they will give very unfortunate evidence 



A DEMON'S bible class. 285 

of their alliance with a certain Biblical expositor, who 
came to Christ with his pious cant confirming the truth 
of the Bible. 

In a recent volume called the " Spiritual Reasoner," by 
Dr. Lewis, we have at first sight a circle, bearing the ap- 
pearance of a Bible-class, with whom the spirit of John 
Locke statedly met, and at each session directed them to 
read a portion of the Bible, and then he would explain 
and apply. This we thought would be very interesting? 
but when we read a little way on, O shade of John 
Locke ! how we did execrate the villainous spirit that so 
abused thy venerable name. 

We here present specimens of spirit confirmation of the 
Bible. 

"Feb. 1, 1851. Locke spelled, 'Read John, 11th chap- 
ter and 26th verse: " And whosoever livethand believeth 
in me, shall never die. Believeth thou this ?" ' 

" Q. Is it the body only that dies ? 

" A. Yes ; and speUed, ' And this will have its excep- 
tions. Read Matthew, 16th chapter, 27th and 28th ver- 
ses ;' and continued, ' there are some of this generation, 
who will never die, even their bodies ; and there are those 
who are caUed dead hi trespasses and sins, who can not be 
made alive, or, hi other words, are not redeemed on the 
earth.' " ! ! ! {Spiritual Reasoner, p. 31.) 

"Feb. 12. We were directed to read the 8th chapter 
of John, 26th verse : ' I have many things to say and 
judge of you, but he that sent me is true ; and I speak to 
the world those things which I have heard of him.' 

" Told us he wished to convey to us by this a sense of 
his watchful care and guardianship over our conduct 
and actions, both at present and hi the future. Spelled 
out, ' God judges of good deeds as well as bad.' Also he 
wished to show to us, that his mission to us and the world 
was from God, and to instruct us as he had heard or been 
instructed. He then gave us the 2d chapter of Romans, 
2d verse : ' But we are sure that the judgment of God is 



286 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

according to truth against them which commit such 
things ;' and closed by giving the 2d chapter of Hebrew 
to read, desiring us to notice particularly the 13th to 18th 
verses. After reading it, we asked what was meant by 
the word devil therein spoken of. He spelled out : ' A 
term used to represent sin? " ! ! {Idem, p. 42.) 

"Feb. 15. Locke gave this evening the 3d chapter of 
John, 6th and 7th verses : ' 6. That which is born of the 
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 
7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born 
again.' 

" Explanation. Being born of the flesh means being 
born of sin. Spelled, ' It is natural for man to sin.' Being 
born of the spirit, he spelled, ' All your minds and affec- 
tions are changed when spiritually born.' 

" Q. Can the new birth take place before we leave the 
body? 

"A. Yes. 

" Q. Will it take place with all after they leave the 
body? 

11 A. Yes. 

" Q. Does the death of the body constitute a new 
birth with all ? 

"A. Yes. And spelled, 'But some fall into lower 
spheres than others.' 

" Q. Does man always know when he experiences the 
new birth ? 

" A. No." (Idem, p. 43.) 

"March 12. Locke gave 1 Timothy, 4th chapter, 1st, 
2d, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 15th, and 16th verses: ' 1. Now 
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times 
some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing 
spirits, and doctrines of devils : 2. Speaking lies in hy- 
pocrisy ; having their consciences seared with a hot iron. 
6. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these 
things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, 
nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, 
whereunto thou hast attained. 8. For bodily exercise 
profiteth little : but godliness is profitable unto all things, 
having promise of the fife that now is, and of that which 
is to come. 10. For therefore we both labor and suffer 



A DEMON'S bible class. 287 

reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the 
Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 
11. These things command and teach. 12. Let no man 
despise thy youth ; but be thou an example of the be- 
lievers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in 
faith, in purity. 15. Meditate upon these things; give 
thyself wholly to them ; that thy profiting may appear to 
all. 16. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; 
continue in them : for in doing this, thou shalt both save 
thyself, and them that hear thee.' 

"A SPECIAL EXHORTATION TO ALL PRESENT." (Idem, 

p. 63.) 

Pity they did not take the hint ! 

"July 16. We asked Locke to instruct us concerning 
the redemption, as we have never had any direct teach- 
ing from him on this subject. He spelled : ' You are un- 
able to comprehend teaching on that subject at present.' 
We told him we had seen communications from other 
spirits, teaching the redemption of both soul and body, 
plain and direct. He spelled in reply, ' The spirits who 
gave those communications saw it as they gave it. You 
cannot see the true meaning, neither could the spirits who 
gave them. They gave it as they received it. Does 
Gardner understand aU the communications given through 
him ? Can a child, with all its purity, understand alge- 
bra ?' " (Idem, p. 107.) 

This is strange teaching for Locke ! 

"Aug. 22, 1852. The spirits taught us to-day, (while 
speaking of the new or second birth referred to by the 
Saviour in his conversation with Nicodemus, as recorded 
in the 3d chapter of John,) that no person had ever ex- 
perienced it except Enoch, Elijah, and Jesus Christ. We 
asked if they would explain to us what it consisted in, in 
a few words. They answered, ' Yes,' and spelled, ' Living 
faith.' And hi answer to questions, said that a person 
having this living faith was spiritually born, and could not 
experience death and corruption. (! ! !) 



288 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

" We inquired concerning the hell spoken of in the 
Bible, and Locke speUed, ' Christ passed through all the 
hells, while partaking of our nature before his crucifixion 
and redemption;' said he commenced passing through 
them at twelve years of age. We replied, that according 
to the general belief of the world there was but one hell. 
In answer he spelled, ' The heUs are as vast as the heavens. 
You have passed through some of them ; as soon as you 
become wholly devoted to God you have passed the whole 
of the hells.' We asked if it could be possible for man to 
pass through all while in the body. He spelled in reply, 
' Man can become so perfect that the last hell can be 
passed by throwing off the natural body while on the 
earth."' (Idem., p. 169, 170.) 

"March 13, 1852. Locke now introduced another 
spirit, by giving us notice, that he was about to do so, 
by spelling the name. ' Nott' was spelled ; said it was 
Dr. Nott, formerly of Union College. The Dr. conversed 
with us upon the deep responsibility of his station while 
in the body ; and then Locke introduced Robert Burns, 
the poet, in the same way." ! ! ! (Idem, p. 135.) 

But the Doctor is not out of the body yet, nor out of 
Union College ! 

Such are the Biblical lessons given by spirits. That 
they are inversions of truth, we need hardly say. And 
if the doctrine of salvation from the " damnation of hell" 
by the atonement of Christ, can be abstracted from the 
saving faith of the Gospel, which anchors the soul on him 
as " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 
world," Satan and all his angels will gladly falsify the 
Bible to any extent, and with " all deceivableness of un- 
righteousness" will turn expositors of the word of God. 
" Another gospel," will answer his purpose just as well 
as no Gospel at all. This is evident from the folly of the 
inferential discourse of the author of the book last quoted. 
Speaking of such expositions, and spirit directions to scrip- 
tural passages, most absurdly appropriated to the cause of 



A demon's bible class. 289 

Spiritualism, he says : " If they were given by evil, or the 
devil, he did not falter or tire in proclaiming truth, from 
first to last. If they do not carry the evidence of truth, 
and an emanation from heaven, on the face of them, then 
we confess we can not understand what is truthful, or 
what is heavenly." The last sentence is very probable. 

ISTo part of the system is more vulnerable than that on 
which our Spiritualists seem most to rely. The miserable 
puerilities and imbecility of its literature, attributed to 
the intellects of Swedenborg, Bacon, Locke, Franklin, 
Webster, Calhoun, and others of that stamp, are covered 
with unbounded absurdity. It can be answered in no 
other way, but by satire, and in itself is entitled to 
nothing higher than an outpouring of ridicule from an in- 
dignant world. Our own communications speak for 
themselves. All that we have seen, are no better ; there- 
fore we repeat, that our three-fold test, beyond the power 
of a successful denial, proves modern Spiritualism to be 
the offspring of evil spirits, beguiling and deceiving men 
by infernal acts, for the purpose of leading souls to reme- 
diless ruin. There is no way of escaping this conclusion, 
either by sophistry or sound logic. We really do not 
see how the leaders of this movement can help laughing 
out in each other's faces, at these miserable pretensions. 
If old Iamblichus took it to be an evidence of the divinity 
of his " Spiritualism," that it "made a stupid man speak 
wisely," can we take it to be an evidence of the same 
high origin, that our " Spiritualism" makes wise men 
speak stupidly ? Alas ! for our preposterous age of " pro- 



13 



290 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 



CHAPTER Vn. 

"Produce your causa, saith the Lord J 
Bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. 
Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen ; 
Let them show the former things, what they be, 
That we may consider them, and know the latter end of them 
Or declare us things for to come. 
Show the things that are to come hereafter, 
That we may know that ye are gods : 
Tea, do good, or do evil, 

That we may be dismayed, and behold it together. 
Behold, ye are of nothing, 
And your work of naught : 
An abomination is he that chooseth you."— Isaiah 41 : 21-24. 

THIRD TEST OF SPIRITUALISM. 

THE BIBLE. 

The Bible the best Test— Fulfilled Prophecy— Nineveh— Babylon— Tyre- 
Spiritualistic Prophecies — The Antediluvian Man— Mistaken Predictions 
The Loss of the Steamer Pacific — Prediction respecting; the Ericsson, 
— The Way of explaining Failures — Miracles — Spiritualist Miracles— An 
Estimation of them — Lack of Mother-wit — Spirit Cures — Testimony of 
Tertullian — Origin of Heathen Oracles — Imitations of God's Method 
— Urim and Thummim — Ancient Spiritualism condemned — Reason for 
it — Unfair Dealing with the Bible — Angels not departed Spirits— Ex- 
planation of Rev. 22 : 8, 9 — The Bible against modern Spiritualism. 

"We are well aware of the fact that the Bible is the 
butt of ridicule for the witlings of this enlightened age, 
and that our Spiritualists proudly place before it the 
authority of their " immortal advisers." We have prov- 



BIBLE PKEDICTIONS. 291 

eel, what they do not deny, that by communicating spirits 
they are liable to gross deception. It can not therefore 
be supposed that we should respect their sentiments of 
our standard of truth, in the face of their own sweeping 
admissions. Their objections are old and stale, without 
even the merit of new combinations ; and often ridicu- 
lously feeble, because they are founded on ignorance and 
not on knowledge : and therefore can never invalidate that 
which has been proved to be true. 

Hence it would be quite needless for us to go into a 
formal defense of the Scriptures, but we mean to produce 
facts to show that the Bible is the best test by which the 
pretensions of this so-called " new religion" can be 
tried. 

We take the subject of fulfilled prophecy to prove 
that the long lapse of time between the predictions we 
select, and their fulfillment, in both of which particular 
answers to particular, absolutely thrusts upon us such a 
high degree of evidence of divine origin, that the wonders 
of modern Spiritualism do not deserve to be mentioned 
with them in the same century. 

It will not be disputed that the Old Testament, as we 
have it, was in existence some 300 years before Christ, 
for it was then translated into Greek, and was noticed 
by several historians on account of the story of the trans- 
lators' cells. It can not therefore be disputed, that the 
prophecies we shall mention were at that time within the 
Bible just as we find them recorded. 

The prophet Nahum flourished about 400 years before 
this translation was made, and uttered this prophecy 
respecting the ancient and magnificent city of Nineveh, 
remai-kable for the particulars brought to notice. 

"The burden of Nineveh. With an overrunning 
flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and 



292 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

darkness shall pursue Ms enemies — affliction shall not rise 
up the seeond time : for while folden together as thorns, 
and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be 
devoured as stubble fully dry." Nah. 1 : 8, 10 ; 2 : 6. 

One hundred years afterwards, Zephaniah lived and 
prophecied against Nineveh thus : 

" He will stretch out his hand against the north, and 
destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, 
and dry like a wilderness, and the flock shall He down in 
the midst of her, all the beasts of the nation : both the 
cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels 
of it, their voice shall sing in the windows ; desolation 
shall be in the thresholds : for he shall uncover the cedar 
work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that 
said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me; how 
is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down 
in ! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his 
hand." (Chap. 2 : 13-15.) 

When these prophecies were uttered, Nineveh had 
been for a very long time a great city. Eight hundred 
years before Christ, Jonah described it as " an exceeding 
great city of three days' journey ;" that is, it took three 
days to go around it. Agreeably to this, Diodorus 
Siculus, a heathen historian, declares this city to have 
been sixty miles in circumference ; surrounded by wa^ls 
one hundred feet high ; and so broad on the top tLat 
three chariots might drive abreast on them ; having fif- 
teen hundred towers, each two-hundred feet high, placed 
equidistant on these walls ! 

Nothing was more unlikely than the destruction of this 
wondrous city at the date of either prophecy, yet how 
minutely is it described ! among other particulars the 
following deserve special notice : 

1. An overrunning flood should be the means of its 
captivity. 



BIBLE PEEDICTIONS. 293 

2. At the time, its inhabitants should be drunk. 

3. Its palace (which the conqueror was ever desirous 
of sparing) should be molten I 

4. Desolation should be its portion for ever. 
Diodorus Siculus, wholly ignorant of the prediction, 

describes the destruction of Nineveh in all of these parti- 
culars : and he is confirmed by Herodotus, Strabo, Tacitus, 
Pliny, and others. The destruction was so total, and the 
desolation so complete, that the place where it was situat- 
ed was unknown until modern times, in which antiquarians 
have made their discoveries among the ruins of ages. 
This prophecy was accomplished at least one hundred 
and fifteen years after its utterance by ISTahum. 

2. In declaring the fate of another nation, which should 
be accomplished in a manner the reverse of that we have 
just noticed, the Bible vindicates its own claims. 

Great Babylon, which Herodotus says had one hun- 
dred gates of solid brass, and walls thirty-five feet high, 
and thick enougli for six chariots to go abreast on them, 
this mighty city, the glory of the world, was foredoomed 
by the mouth of prophecy. The particulars are very 
remarkable. 

1. TJie nations that should take the city were designat- 
ed, though hardly then in existence ! 

2. The name of the commander who was to head the 
armies of invasion was giveti one hundred years before 
he was born ! 

3. The very time when it shoidd be taken. 

4. The manner of its capture— -that it should be taken 
by surprise during the hilarity of a feast — not, like 
Nineveh, by an overrunning flood, but by the drying up 
of the river ! 

5. That it should be utterly destroyed. 

Only think of this combination of circumstances, and 



294 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

consider the improbability of the fulfillment of the pre- 
dictions concerning that city. The nations which should 
take it, are specified hi Isa. 21 : 2 ; Jer. 51 : 11. The 
name of the commander is given hi Isa. 44 : 28 ; 45 : 1. 
The time is specified in Jer. 25 : 11, 12. The method of 
surprise, by the river being turned from its course, in 
whose bed the besieging armies marched, is mentioned 
in Isa. 44 : 27; Jer. 1 : 24-38 ; 51 : 30-36. The utter 
destruction is detailed in Is. 13 :19; 14:2 2, 23; Jer. 
50 : 13-40. 

Isaiah prophesied one hundred years before Jeremiah, 
when Persia was just beginning to be. Jeremiah pro- 
phesied about sixty years before Babylon was subdued, 
and at a time when Nebuchadnezzar had greatly enlarged 
and strengthened it. Its walls were among the wonders 
of the world, and in and around it men gathered the 
mightiest works ever achieved by man. While in the 
strength of its power, in the glory of its mighty dominion, 
and in the heart of a country the very last on earth to 
be thought of as a desolation, rivalling in luxuriance and 
beauty the best description of any of the " spheres" 
given by our Spiritualists, one hundred and sixty years 
before an enemy had peeped, prophecy pronounced the 
fearful doom of Babylon. 

The historical confirmation of the aforesaid predictions 
is accurately given by the heathen historians Herodotus 
and Xenophon, who were ignorant of them, the former of 
whom lived two hundred and fifty, the latter three hun- 
dred and fifty years after Isaiah. 

3. The Bible further demonstrates its own divine origin 
by predicting the fate of another mighty city, whose glory 
should be reduced to a nonentity not, as in the former 
cases, but by merely sinking into insignificance, when 



BIBLE PREDICTIONS. 295 

position and circumstances apparently made such, an event 
the most unlikely that could happen. 

When Ezekiel wrote, the ancient city of Tyre was re- 
ioicing in the greatest commercial prosperity. The voice 
of prophecy, for her sin, pronounced her doom, in Isa. 
23 : 9 ; Ezekiel 27 : 32 ; 28 : 1-20. 

The particulars of the prophecies, remarkably answer 
to the particulars of the fulfillment. The most singular 
events in history are found in the manner hi which the 
siege of Tyre was managed by Alexander the Great. 
The city was on an island half a mile from the shore, 
surrounded by a wall one hundred and fifty feet high. 
Out of the ruins of old Tyre, demolished two hundred 
and forty years before, Alexander constructed a mound 
from the continent to the island, but he failed. The 
storm destroyed it, and its ruins remained buried in the 
water. This favored his renewed efforts : the rubbish 
was all gathered, and the soil scraped up, and heaped 
upon the former material. Now read Ezek. 26 : 4, 12, 21. 

When Tyre was taken, it was fired. Fifteen thousand 
took to their ships, multitudes were slam, and thirty thou- 
sand sold into slavery. Now read these facts predicted 
years and years before their occurrence, hi the Scriptures. 
One hundred and twenty-five years before the destruc- 
tion of old Tyre, Isaiah pronounced the doom which in- 
cluded the new city ; and its very occupancy by fishermen, 
where they spread their nets, as in modern times seen by 
travellers, is graphically portrayed by Ezekiel ! 

We might go on with the relations of prophecy and 
and its fulfillment, respecting Egypt and other nations, 
all going to prove that such lapses of centuries between 
the predicted and the fulfilled, demonstrate as with the 
voice of God, that the Bible came from him as its inspir- 
ing Author. 



296 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Now our rapping spiritualistic media are prurient to be 
accredited as missionaries from God, and in evidence 
of the fact, utter predictions in an abnormal state, and 
boldly place tbem by the side of the Biblical prophecies, 
solemnly declaring themselves innocent of any co-mental 
agency in originating them. They ask us to accept them 
as proof of the divine mission of their "immortal ad- 
visers." 

"We can not consent to degrade the word of God by 
any unworthy comparison, hence, before we can comply, 
we must see whether these predictions, in the matter and 
manner of their fulfillment, in any degree justify the high 
claims set up. We can not, indeed, ask for a fulfillment 
that leaps over many years, and by its historical verifica- 
tions proves that their mission is from God ; but we have a 
right to look for an accurate fulfillment at the time or 
times specified by the spirits, and the particulars in a 
prediction must correspond with facts in its fulfillment, so 
palpably above human agency to produce, that the cir- 
cumstances shall compel belief. If this condition, obvi- 
ously necessary, is not complied with by the spirits, then, 
surely, it must be evident that every attempt at prophecy 
is an attempt at imposition, and by the failure of the 
proffered test they prove themselves impostors in the ser- 
vice of the devil. 

To settle this matter we shall look at some of the 
spirit predictions. The first we shall mention is one said 
to have come from the spirit of Napoleon, through the 
medium, Mr. J. F. Coles, the account of which was 
transmitted to the Times by Mr. Hott, and published in 
1854. The reader will please to notice the positiveness 
of Mr. H. in his prefatory remarks respecting the identi- 
fication. 



MODERN PROPHECIES. 297 



"Prophecy op napoleon, as given through mr. c, at 
the rooms of the association, no. 144 south-sixth 
street, williamsburgh, on the evening op nov. 29, 

1854. 

"In submitting the following to the public, I am most 
anxious to draw the attention of literary and scientific 
minds more fully to a class of facts in the phenomena of 
Spiritualism, which must sooner or later have an import- 
ant place among the ethics of mind, if nothing further. 
I am prepared fully to prove that no collusion, no attempt 
at hoaxing the public in the remotest manner, is possible 
in this case. Be the prophecy true or false, it came as 
fully indorsed as I can conceive possible in identification, 
as from the spirit of Napoleon : 

" ' A map of Europe lies before me. Premature con- 
vulsions have somewhat tended to frustrate the designs 
of wise and acute minds. You are now moulding the 
destinies of Europe to their proper proportions. All 
appears dark excepting the very centre, where light, 
faint though it be, and not yet well defined, is discerned 
by the watchmen on the walls. The world at large may 
not see cause for hope from the faint gleam, yet sage 
minds rejoice, because it comes where it should come, 
from the centre, not from the outskirts. Ere three 
months have passed, dating from this hour, an assassina- 
tion of a crowned head will asto?iish and bewilder the 
magnates of Europe, and overturn an empire in another 
quarter. In another quarter, a traitor to his king, but a 
loyal man to his God, and to his fellows, shall turn his 
strength against his master, and raise the banner of the 
-people. This shall be some time after the first events of 
which I have spoken. No more to-night.' 

"Azor Hott, 
" No. 144 South-Sixth street, WiUiamsburgh.'' 

THE WAV MR. HOTT GETS OUT OP IT. 

'•'•Another Bit of Humbug — Note from Mr. Azor Hoyt, 
" ' Under the euphonious heading, 'A Bit of Humbug,' 
13* 



298 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

we found an especial friend of ours placed in an unenvia- 
ble position before the pxxblic, in your Saturday's issue. 

" ' The cry of humbug- has become so highly fashiona- 
ble, of late, that it is difficult to find any thing in the 
shape of truth or error which has not been under its 
aristocratic patronage. The prophecy to which you call 
attention has been considered so accurately correspondent 
to the death of the Emperor Nicholas of Russia, that Mr. 
Coles has claimed an ovation as a true prophet. 

" ' There is, however, a prophecy in your columns re- 
ferring to Louis Napoleon's demise, which we have since 
been informed, by a spirit purporting to be Napoleon I., 
is not to be relied on, as he denies the authenticity. 

" ' With the verity of these communications we have 
little to do. They were published antecedent to the 
events to which they referred. If they were inter- 
esting to the public, well and good ; if not, we've done 
our best for their edification, as it regards our 'mys- 
teries,' and we can't help their want of appreciation. 

" ' A. Hoyt.' 

" This is Mr. Hoyt's response to our exposures of the 
utter falsity of the predictions which he was the means of 
obtaining from the other world, through the alleged me- 
dium of a spirit. We quoted the prediction as sent to us 
by Mr. Hoyt, made Nov. 29, 1854, in which the spirit of 
Napoleon was represented as having said, through a Mr. 
Coles, that within three months from that time 

" ' An assassination of a crowned head will astonish 
and bewilder the magnates of Europe, and overturn an 
empire in another quarter. In another quarter, a traitor 
to his king, but a loyal man to his God and to his fellows, 
shall turn his strength against his master, and raise the 
banner of the people.' 

" And Mr. Hoyt thinks that this prediction was fulfilled 
by the peaceful death of the Emperor Nicholas, more 
than a year after the time fixed, and without any overturn 
of an empire, or any other commotion whatever. 

" Mr. Hoyt confesses that these alleged spiritual reve- 
lations are intended for no other purpose than to amuse 
the public. With their truth, he says, very coolly, ' We 
have little to do.' If all the apostles of this new 



MODERN PROPHECIES. 299 

absurdity would be equally frank, fewer people would be 
deluded by their pretensions. The object of our alluding 
to the matter at all has been fuUy attained, in the 
acknowledgment it has elicited from Mr. Hoyt, that the 
whole thing is a swindle, designed simply to entertain the 
public." (JV. Y. Times, May 7, 1856.) 

Every portion of this is now proved to be untrue ; yet 
the writer declared himself able to prove that there could 
have been no imposition, and that in his judgment there 
could have been on greater evidence of personal identity 
given. Take another instance. 

A spirit in 1852 revealed himself through M. L. Ar- 
nold, of Poughkeepsie, as " God's High and Holy 
Spirit, Jesus Christ, formerly of Nazareth" ! This 
false Christ has communicated several volumes. In one 
of them, termed " The History of the Origin of All 
Things," we have this precious piece of information : 

" The man of the antediluvian world was a very differ- 
ent being from the present man. He was larger, strong- 
er, and more sensual. He was also six-fingered and six- 
toed, and bull-necked. He had a tail, and it was the 
apparition of beings of the antediluvian birth that caused 
the popular notion of the appearance of evil spirits with 
tails. He also had horns, short and straight, proceeding 
from his forehead." (p. 97.) 

" Were it necessary I would confirm the truth of this 
revelation by miracles, such as raising the dead or healing 
the sick. But the time has not yet come for these. 
When the time comes it shall be done, and through this 
medium first /" (p. 75.) 

This absurdity, blasphemously attributed to Christ, 
is to be proved a true revelation when the time 
comes ! This prophecy of future miracles will be borne 
in mind. 

We only give Satan his due, however, when we 



300 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

acknowledge his ingenious contrivance to get rid of the 
devilish tail and the horns with which his personage has 
been associated for ages. This scrap of evidence is good 
for proof of the source whence the spirit, last referred to, 
came. 

The following is an ugly " manifestation" as to the way 
in which our modern prophecies are fulfilled : 

" Messes. Editors : Please do me the favor to pub- 
lish this : On my arrival in this city, a week since, from 
France and England, I was surprised to learn that a re- 
port was current that I had departed this life some time 
ago ; also that my spirit had rapped out messages, and 
otherwise manifested itself, some seven or eight mediums 
in this city, and as many elsewhere, having held inter- 
course with my departed soul. According to one ora- 
cle I had fought a duel and got winged; by another 
account I had committed felo de se, although it seems that 
i"'m a '•fellow* yet, d'ye see. One said I died in Germany; 
another in France ; and still another, between Dover and 
Dieppe, France or England. But sir, to quote from 
Webster, non verbatim, ' I ain't dead yet.' 

"Paschal Randolph." 

{Spiritual Tel, No. 178.) 

The spirit announcement that Dr. Kane and his party, 
of the Arctic expedition, were all dead, was quite prema- 
ture, for they returned to prove that there are lying 
spirits abroad in these days of telegraphic wonders. This 
was unfortunate, and something must be done to mend 
the matter. Accordingly, a long time after the Pacific 
was due at our port, we were informed that before she 
left her wharf in New-York, as the event has proved, for 
the last time, it was predicted by spirits, on the evening 
of December 23, 1855, with "peculiar emphasis," "The 
Steamship Pacific will be wrecked, and all on 
board will perish." 



MODERN PROPHECIES. 301 

This prediction was sent to the editor of the Spiritual 
Telegraph, but, as a matter of prudence, was not then 
published. It would not do to risk it, as in the case of 
Dr. Kane. Now, since time has shown what is the fate 
of the vessel, we have a long statement from Mr. Britton, 
in the Telegraph of the 5th of April, 1856, styled, 
" Prophecies by the Spirits," containing various particu- 
lars of the sad disaster, as reported by spirits Faulkner 
and others who were on board. We are further in- 
formed that " since the utterance of the original prophecy 
respecting the loss of the Pacific, the writer has had at 
least a dozen interviews with the spirits, through Mrs. 
Porter, who was the prophetess on this occasion. The 
editor remarks : 



" Similar representations of the loss of the Pacific have 
recently been given through other channels, but we know 
of no other instance of a definite prophecy on this subject 
having been made at so early a date as the 23d of Decem- 
ber. Spirits from the doomed ship have purported to be 
present on numerous occasions, and in presence of many 
witnesses have given curious, interesting, and satisfactory 
proofs of their identity." 

But how are we to get the particulars verified? 
Spirits are said to have given them through those who 
wish to subserve their own cause. Both parties are 
interested, those " in the form" as well as those dislodged. 
Now, since there are lying spirits both in and out of the 
form, how can we ascertain the truth of the particulars as 
here given, avowedly from Mrs. P., entranced by the 
spirit of the purser of the ill-fated steamer ? Here is his 
inspired communication : 

" When six days out, the Pacific struck an iceberg, at 
11 o'clock on the evening of Jan. 29, and very soon went 



302 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

down, stern foremost. As the vessel sank, three ^ 
escaped from the wreck and found a temporary resting- 
place on the ice, but they were subsequently frozen to 
death. It was further alleged that there were forty-eight 
passsengers on board — forty males and eight females ; 
that, at the time of the catastrophe, the ship was in lati- 
tude 46° north ; that the Captain was at fault in taking 
the course he did, his object being to make a quicker trip 
than the Persia, which was then on her first voyage. In 
the course of the evening — the medium being entranced — 
the heart-rending scene was graphically represented ; the 
general consternation, the wild tumult, and the frantic 
prayers to God for deliverance, excited intense and solemn 
emotions in all who were present." 

The case stands thus. If the steamer be never heard 
from, such a prophecy, if truly made, can prove nothing 
beyond a lucky hit ; because the particulars above given 
can not be verified, and might, with safety to the original 
oracle, be multipied two-fold. 

If the steamer come back, our Spiritualists would only 
have to say that some mischievous spirit had lied, as in 
the case of Dr. Kane and his party, which only proves 
that there are lying spirits, but can not militate against 
the facts of communication with the good spirits of our 
departed friends ; so that whether the Pacific return or 
not, the eyes of our Spiritualists are blinded by the old 
expedient of the heathen oracles. 

If she do not return, the particulars may be multiplied 
to any extent ; there is no body alive to contradict. 
Should she now return (of which there is left no proba- 
bility) we should be reminded by the Judge that there is 
a " class of communications which are intended as de- 
ceiving and to mislead !" (Spiritualism, vol. i., p. 456.) 

We suppose the following to be of this class. 

The great feat at prophecy, in the above-named case, 
it seems induced the medium to try her skill again ; we 



MODERN PROPHECIES. 30S 

beg pardon, induced the spirits to make another 
attempt. 

The New- York Times of April 18, 1856, items another 
prophecy : 

" Mrs. Porter, a spiritual medium, has prophesied that 
the steamer Ericsson, which left this port nearly four 
months ago, will he hurned to the water's edge before 
the 26th of the present month. Drive a nail there." 

The nail was thus drawn by the following paragraph in 
the same paper of May 1 : 

" THE SPIRITS AT FAULT. 

" Some ten days since it was announced that a spiritual 
medium had proclaimed that the steamship Ericsson would 
he destroyed by fire on the 26th of the present month. 
But the Ericsson arrived yesterday in good condition, in 
fourteen days from Liverpool." 

By the quotation at the head of this chapter it will he 
seen that God appeals to Prophecy as the great evidence 
demonstrative of his word ; and Peter shows that for 
this purpose, it is superior to the evidence derived 
from Miracles. 2 Pet. 1 : 17-19. After referring to 
the transfiguration of Christ which he had seen, and to 
the miraculous voice which he had heard, when he was 
with him in the mount, he immediately adds : " We have 
a more sure word of prophecy." That which makes 
prophecy the more reliable evidence, is the fact, that 
Satan can not imitate it, as he can do in the case of mi- 
racles. The original of the words " power," " signs," and 
" wonders," applied to the real miracles of Christ and his 
Apostles in John 4 : 48, Acts 2 : 19, etc., are also applied 
to their imitations, in Mat. 24 : 24, and 2 Thess. 2 : 9. 
The latter are not miracles in the true sense of that word. 



304 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

but mere wonders, and unaccountable occurrences. The 
former are so stupendous as to admit of no fair debate ; 
the latter is of an order so low as to admit of debate, and 
yet so seductive as to possess great power of deception, 
because real extraordinary operations in nature, which 
fall within the competency of demoniac power. Hence 
our Spiritualists may be able by the agency in question 
to confound the minds of the people and seduce them to 
the belief of their mischievous doctrines ; but they can not 
manage prophecy in this way. This is clear from the at- 
tempts already made. And the distinction here proved 
from the Bible, answering to the facts we give, abundant- 
ly establish our point, that the Bible is the real true stand- 
ard by which we are to test the claims of modern Spirit- 
ualism. It was therefore a great mistake when they 
ventured upon the ground exclusively occupied by the 
Bible to prove a divine origin. 

The experience of the world has led men to accept such 
miserably bald impostures, as the plainest proof of an in- 
tention to deceive. Surely, the Jive instances just given, 
ought to satisfy such as have been taken with the fascina- 
tion of Spiritualism, that they have been deluded. Such 
evidently plain impostures are designed to sustain systems 
of essential falsehood. Reliance is placed upon the for- 
getfulness and indifference of men, who are too busy to 
look after the fulfi l lment of these predictions ; and thus 
they escape exposure. Now, when such things occur, 
why do not the press of the Spiritualists expose them ? 
If honest, can they let such things go without a syllable ? 

Such glaring inconsistencies make it necessary, that 
some sort of an apology be forthcoming, to prevent raw 
recruits from taking alarm and deserting their ranks. 
Hence they are told that : 



A RIDICULOUS CONTRAST. 305 

" There is another kind of foretelling still, that, name- 
ly, which involves their own (spirits) action. For instance, 
they say on such a day a thing will happen. By this they 
mean that on that day they will do that thing. Now, 
with them as with us, a thousand things may happen to 
prevent their accomplishing their purpose; they may 
change their minds about it ; circumstances may occur to 
render it inexpedient or unnecessary, etc. Shall we, 
therefore, withhold all credit from them ?" (Spiritual- 
ism, vol. I., p. 455.) 

It is lamentable to think, there are men who can be 
easily taken by such detestable sophistry as this, from 
whose common sense in other matters we might expect 
better things. 

Further the Miracles of the New Testament as weU as 
the fulfilled predictions of the Old, entitle the Bible to be 
considered the best test to which modern Spiritualism 
can be brought for trial. 

There is a pamphlet of a hundred pages, very popular 
among the brotherhood, entitled " New Testament ' Mi- 
racles' and Modern Miracles," the object of which is to 
bring discredit upon the former, and by means of the com- 
parisons drawn, to exalt our modern communications to 
the dignity, credibility, and importance, of the word of 
God. 

1. On the score of evidence. In the beginning of this 
performance, there is gravely given a list of a hundred wit- 
nesses in favor of modern miracles, pitted against the hy- 
pothetical authority of the Evangelists and Peter and Paul, 
respecting whom we have no certain information ! To 
this we have a very plain reply. Our New Testament 
has stood the scrutiny of eighteen centuries, and its inter- 
nal evidence is a munition of rock, upon which all its pre- 
vious enemies have never been able to make an impres- 
sion, notwithstanding more talent, wit, and power were 



306 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

at their command than a million of such witnesses can 
boast of, as are presented for the support of our modern 
miracles ; for we have convicted some of the best of 
them, out of their own mouth, of the most preposterous 
nonsense. 

2. As to the miracles of the New Testament, which in- 
finitely transcend in dignity all our modern wonders, the 
author of this pamphlet, like his compeers, affects to de- 
ride them. But it is quite too late to resort to the ex- 
ploded arguments of adversaries, long since employed to 
no purpose. These " modem miracles" are performed by 
spirits, some of whom confessedly are lying spirits ; and 
their performances by the name of " lying wonders," are 
expressly spoken of in the New Testament as a method 
of deception in the latter days, resorted to for the con- 
firmation of error. The false doctrine of the " new re- 
ligion" for the establishment of which they are wrought, 
demonstrates the character both of the miracles and of 
their authors. Moreover they are such as are confessedly 
performed by demons, are of the same character as those 
which prevailed throughout the mythologies of the 
heathen world, and are such as evil demons can do, and 
would be most likely to do for the execution of their evil 
purposes. 

There is a parallel run in this book between the Mi- 
racles of the New Testament and those of the Spiritualists 
which exhibit at least a prodigious lack of mother-wit. 
Here is an example. 

Acts. 16 : 26. " And suddenly there was a great earth- 
quake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken ; 
and immediately all the doors were opened, and every 
one's bands were loosed." 

The Parallel. 

On pages 38, 39 we find the following given to offset the 
occurrences at Philippi : 



DEMON-MIRACLES. 307 

" The circle met at 8 o'clock in the evening, at B. S. 
Benson's house, five ladies and four gentlemen being pre- 
sent. The circle was formed, the lights were removed, 
and, after singing, Miss L., Miss H., Mrs. A. P. P., me- 
diums present, were perceived to be in the interior state, 
by their description of things, then transpiring in the 
room. It was said : ' There is Franklin ; there are three 
others with him; they have boxes under their arms; they 
place them under the table ; they are going to make 
raps ; they say something is wrong ; they have gone over 
in the corner of the room, and are talking together and 
pointing to the table ; they now bring two more boxes ; 
they say they are going to break the table.' The raps, 
or rather pounding, commenced, and were as if made by 
a muffled maul, of many pounds' weight, suspended under 
the table, at first striking so lightly as not to raise the 
table, but increasing by degrees, until the table was raised 
from the floor some ten or twelve inches, all four legs of 
the table being off the floor at once. The table was heard 
to drop, as if it had fallen some distance, with a tremen- 
dous crash. There were no material means used to pro- 
duce the raps, nor did there exist a possibility of deception, 
there being no one in the room but those joined in the 
circle, hand in hand, around the table, not one of whom 
touched the table at the time. The table was at one 
time thrown on the lap of a lady present, and thrown olf 
by the same unseen power. All present at times saw 
lights in different directions around the room, as well as 
over the table. After some tremendous poundings, which 
made some of those present fear they would be struck 
with pieces of the table, it was then spoken by one of the 
mediums, ' Nothing more to night.' 

" Yours, truly, B. S. Benson, 

W. W. Laning." 

The New Testament miracle, it will be observed, was 
an earthquake by which the servants of God were freed 
from a prison, into which they had been thrown for liber- 
ating a travelling medium from the possession of a "spirit 
of divination," for whose worthless " communications" her 



308 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

masters made exorbitant charges; just as is done at the 
present day among our modern Spiritualists. By means of 
it, the jailer and his family were brought to seek the know 
ledge of the way of salvation, and were converted from 
heathenish notions to the religion of the Lord Jesus 
Christ ; which is exactly the reverse of the effect of our 
modern wonders ; namely, to seduce men from the doctrine 
of salvation by faith in Christ, to heathenish notions; as 
we have proved their doctrines to be. 

The Parallel was no earthquake ; but certain mysterious 
poundings, until the table was raised from the floor some 
ten or twelve inches, no one touching it, all four of its 
legs being off the floor at once ; which wonderful pheno- 
mena was clearly seen in the dark. The object of this 
was — what was it ? An exhibition of such power, as a 
devil not cast out, possesses ! This is a fair sample of the 
"modern miracles." The contrast is simply ridiculous. 

God never did any thing for the communication or con- 
firmation of truth to mortals, but the devil tried to imi- 
tate it. 

"Ah! indeed!" our Spiritualists will exclaim; "to 
whom, then, will you attribute the cures of the New Tes- 
tament ? Consider the following : 

" ' At a circle held at Adrian, the first Saturday in July, 
the spirits wrote : " Seek the lame, the halt, and the in- 
firm, and they shall be healed." I then remarked to J. 
M. Reynolds : " It can not be done ; if that is read, away 
go the spirits and the cause together, for some one will 
be presented and not cured." Nevertheless the call was 
read by my colleague, when Mr. Lyons presented him- 
self, stating that his leg had been drawn up by rheuma- 
tism four years, and teas under acute pain at the time. 
Without the exercise of my own volition, I was thrown 
into the spiritual state, and placed before him. I was also 
made to speak by the power of the spirit. * * * * 



DEMON-MIRACLES. 309 

I put my hand on him and he was made whole. He 
dropped his cane and went away rejoicing, fleet as a hoy 
of sixteen.*' " (Heview of Beecher, p. 66.) 

This is a case, dear spiritualistic friends, where the 
demon simply undid his own work; for if it be true, as 
in the case of the " woman which had a spirit of infirm- 
ity eighteen years, and was bound together, and could in 
no wise lift up herself," what our Saviour declared to be 
the fact, that Satah had done this, (Luke 13 : 11-16,) it 
is no hard matter for him to draw up a man's leg for four 
years by a rheumatic affection, in order that a demon, 
through a medium, should cure it by animal magnetic 
agency, for a devilish purpose. 

"We are significantly told that the man upon whom this 
miracle was performed was " seventy-four years old." 
"We suppose there is a designed hint here that this per- 
formance was somewhat like the cure of the man at the 
beautiful gate of the temple, who was but forty years old. 
There was, however, this small difference: the Jewish 
subject had ~beenlame from his birth, and was restored in 
the name and by the power of Christ, and not by the 
agency of demons. 

Moreover, it is no new thing for demons to perform 
small cures, and prescribe for the sick. In this way of 
old they used to get great credit for themselves, and they 
now play the same game with our confiding Spiritualists ! 

It will be seen, from the following quotation, that such 
things were common in the early ages of the Church. 
The extract is from Tertullian, by an author on Spiritual- 
ism, to prove the fact of " spirit intercourse." It will as 
well, and a little better, serve our purpose to prove the 
identity between the agency that Tertullian denounces 
and defies, and the Spiritualism of the present day. 

" * We are informed that Mr. Lyons was seventy-four years old." 



310 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

Thus Mr. Alfred Cridge informs us, in relation to the 
heathen gods who were demons : 

" Between these spirits and their mediums on the one 
hand, and the Christian prophets on the other, there 
was generally an open hostility / but wherever a trial of 
powers occurred, the heathen spirit was forced to give 
way, showing the existence still in the Church of that 
power conferred by Jesus upon his disciples, to ' cast out 
devils.' Hence we find Tertullian, hi his ' Apology for 
the Christian Religion,' boldly challenging all heathendom 
to a trial of the powers of their patron spirits and divini- 
ties, who were accustomed to possess and speak through 
the bodies of certain men. ' Hitherto,' says he, ' we have 
used words ; we will now come to a demonstration of the 
very thing, that your Gentile gods are no one of them 
greater than another. For a decision of the point, let 
any one that is judged to be possessed by a devil be 
brought into open court before your tribunals ; when that 
spirit shall be commanded by a Christian to speak, he 
shall as truly confess himself a devil there as elsewhere he 
falsely claims to be a god. Or let one equally be produced 
who is among you Gentiles judged to be inspired of God, 
who waits at your altars, and is esteemed a sacred person 
by you ; nay, though he be acted by one of your most 
venerated deities, be it Diana, the heavenly virgin, or 
Esculapius, that prescribes yoitr medici?ies, and who pre- 
tends to relieve the dying, yet these or any others, when 
they are summoned, if they dare to lie unto the Christian 
summoning, and if they do not confess thewselves openly 
to be devils, then let that reproachful Christian's blood be 
spilt by you on the spot.' " {Epii. jSpir. Int., pp. 34, 35.) 

"We thank our author for this quotation from Tertullian. 
It is powerfully plump against his own cause, and knocks 
the brains out of the best argument Spiritualists have to 
offer upon the question, "Cm Bono?" It moreover 
proves our previous reasoning correct, that Satan can 
afford to heal the body, provided he may thus seduce the 
soul. 



IDENTITY OP THE OLD AND THE NEW. 311 

In our judgment we have said enough to prove, to 
reasonable men, that on the simple score of superiority in 
the matters of prophecy and miracle, the Bible is entitled 
to be considered the best test of the high pretensions we 
are now considering. And when we add to this, its 
inspiration, its antiquity, and its triumphs, we have pro- 
duced reasons enough to warrant the divine direction : 
" To the law and the testimony, if they speak not accord- 
ing to these, it is because there is no truth in them." 

In our estimation of the Bible as the best test in this 
matter, we shall be upheld by an inquiry as to the true 
origin of heathen oracles, and other expedients for inter- 
rogating the dead. As these are claimed to be the same 
in kind and intention with the developments of spirit pow- 
er in our day, the decisions of the Bible upon the ancient 
must include the modem phenomena. Dr. Dexter says : 

" "We find that a connection with spiritual sources of 
power and intelligence was claimed by the Gymnosophists 
of India, the Magi of Persia, the wise men of Egypt, the 
prophets and diviners of Greece and Rome, the Druidical 
priests and bards of ancient Gaul and Britain, the Scalds 
of Scandinavia, etc. We find such a connection evinced 
in the true prophetic dreams and visions of Mandane, of 
Cyrus the Great, of Cambyses, of Darius, and others of 
the ancient Median and Persian kings and nobles. We 
find it proved by the utterances of the oracles of Butos, 
of Jupiter Amnion, of Colophon, of Dodona, of Trophoni- 
ous, and by the sublime prophetic and didactic utterances 
of the Delphic Pythia, which, as the dictates of the god 
Apollo, were for ages implicitly foUowed by kings, armies, 
and nations. Spiritualism, indeed, forms a fundamental 
feature of all ancient historical and poetic literature, and 
the spiritual element of this could not be taken away 
without essentially marring the structure and consistency 
of the whole." (Spiritualism, vol. i., p. 58.) 

Mr. IvTevin savs : 



312 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

" The laws of spiritual intercourse, as evolved iu these 
modern phenomena, explain scientifically and positively 
all the mythology, symbolism, idealism, transcendental- 
ism, mysticism, and spiritualism of the ages. The spirit- 
ual history of this planet is yet to he written, and the key 
to its most perfect illustration will be found in the spirit- 
ual phenomena of the present day." (Spir. Devel., p. 3.) 

We thus are instructed to believe that all the wonders 
of heathendom are to be explained by the Spiritualism of 
the present time, and whatever the Bible says with re- 
spect to the former, we repeat must be applied to the 
latter, which is but the milk of the old cocoa-nut. 

Now if we show, that ancient heathenish wonders were 
mischievous imitations of the agencies ordained of God 
among the Israelites, for the discovery of his will to his 
own people, for their direction in consulting him as Theo- 
crat of the nation, and as God of the Church, and for the 
process by which the various parts of divine revelation 
should be gathered for the use of man in all subsequent 
ages, of course their condemnation is implied ; and the 
declarations made respecting them can be no other than 
denunciatory ; because such imitations must have been 
made by devilish agency, for the perversion of truth and 
for the deception of men. 

We are told that " God, who at sundryximes and in 
divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by 
the prophets, hath, in these last days, spoken to us by his 
Son." (Heb. 1:1.) 

There was progression in the delivery of divine revela- 
tion. There was at first, naked spirit intercourse, and then 
various media that formed the " divers manners" alluded 
to, and which were confined to the earlier ages. But in 
the beginning of the last days, the highest revelation was 
given by God's owsr Son ; and it was not fitting, that in 
this matter the work should be left incomplete, and that 



THE CHARACTER OP THE OLD SPIRITUALISM. 813 

progression backwards should be made in the dignity of 
the media employed for further communication. Hence 
the last and the sublimest book of the Bible was " spoken 
unto us" from " his Son ;" and because of the dignity of 
the Medium, and of the fullness and completeness of the 
New Testament, it is said : " If any man shall add unto 
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are 
written in this book ; and if any man shall take away 
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall 
take away his part out of the book of life." Now the 
revelation of Jesus Chkist covers all time, from the 
date of the beginning of the Gospel dispensation, and 
therefore to the things spoken of, nothing is to be add- 
ed ; but these things are precisely what our Spiritualists 
seek to improve by their addenda and their subtrahenda ; 
therefore the curse of Jehovah, pronounced as we have 
quoted, must fall upon them, if the Bible be true ; because 
their revelations being the old imitations revived, are 
manifest cheats, imposed first upon themselves by devilish 
agency, and then upon the world. 

What, then, are the originals of these ancient imita- 
tions ? Wh® is the enemy that sowed tares among the 
wheat in early times, to corrupt the harvest of truth that 
should be gathered in subsequent ages ? 

We present our great fact in the outset, that the exist- 
ence of a heathen oracle can not be shown to antedate the 
death of Joseph in Egypt. The oldest among the 
Greeks was that of Dodona, but the most celebrated was 
the Delphic oracle, which made its first manifestations by 
a " speaking medium," and sometimes in hexameter verse, 
somewhere about B.C. 1260. Let this be kept in mind. 

We read in 2 Sam. 16 : 23, that " the counsel of Ahith- 
ophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man 
had inquired at the oracle of God." The original 
H 



314 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

here means, first, a word ; second, a message divinely- 
sent, (Numbers 23 : 5 ;) third, the means by which 
that word or communication was made known ; and 
fourth, the place where it was uttered. The earliest of 
these means was " the Urim and Thummim," signifying, 
according to some, lights and perfections, and according 
to others, doctrine and judgment. By these, inquiries 
were made, and oracular responses given in an audible 
voice. What was the substance or shape of these small 
media, or what was the time when or the person by 
whom first employed, we know nothing beyond the sim- 
ple fact of their very early use. In Exodus 28 : 30 it 
is said : " Thou shalt put into the breast-plate of judg- 
ment the Urim and the Thummim." See, also, Levit. 
8 : 8. The Hebrew article makes it clear that these 
things were so familiar that they needed no description. 
" To inquire of the Lord" was the phrase used to desig- 
nate divine consultation by Urim and Thummim. Com- 
pare 1 Sam. 23 : 10 with Numb. 27 : 21. Moses, who 
uses this phrase in historical description throughout 
the Pentateuch, uses it in the same way in Gen. 25 : 22, 
She went to inquire of the Lord y and we have the orac- 
ular response in the following verse. It is, therefore, a very 
high probability that these articles were known to the 
patriarchs in the land of Canaan. When Joseph was sub- 
sequently elevated to the viceroyalty of Egypt, and to the 
presidency of their college of priests, " to teach their sen- 
ators wisdom," we must infer that he taught them the 
way of worshipping the true God, and the method of ob- 
taining oracular responses from him. Hence we conclude 
that the Egyptian image of Sapphire, called Truth, sus- 
pended from the neck of their high-priest by a golden 
chain, whenever he attempted to pronounce his decisions, 
( or he was also chief judge in civil affairs,) was an imita- 
tion of the Urim and Thummim of the patriarchs. 



THE CHARACTER OF THE OLD SPIRITUALISM. 315 

At a later period of Hebrew history, these articles in 
his breast-plate were necessary to put the high-priest into 
a condition to receive responses, which were given in an 
audible voice from between the Cherubim. Besides 
these, the Hebrews had other means of obtaining oracu- 
lar responses, but the chief oracle was the Ephod of the 
high-priest. This continued to be consulted down to the 
end of the Jewish polity. Its fame was well known. In 
imitation of these means of gaining responses from hea- 
ven, the heathen of all nations set up various oracles, and 
invented additional facilities for learning, from the spirits 
of the departed, whatever might be thought of importance 
for them to know. Intercourse between the Hebrews and 
other nations had a corrupting tendency. Prone to rebel- 
lion, they were easily led to adopt the follies and yield to 
the delusions which were the base imitations of their own 
sublime mysteries. Therefore they were prohibited all 
intercourse with magicians, soothsayers, diviners, wiz- 
ards, charmers, astrologers, necromancers, and sorcerers, 
upon whose practices had been pronounced the curse of 
Jehovah. 

" Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." (Exod. 22:18.) 

" The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spi- 
rits, and after wizards, to go a-whoring after them, I will 
even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off 
from among his people." (Lev. 20 : 6.) 

" A man, also, or woman, that hath a familiar spirit, 
or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death." (Lev. 
20 : 27.) 

" There shall not be found among you any one that mak- 
eth his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that 
useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, 
or a icitch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, 
or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things 



316 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

are an abomination unto the Lord ; and because of these 
abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out 
from before thee." (Dent. 18 : 10-12.) 

"Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." (1 Sam. 15 : 23.) 

What are we to understand by these terms ? 

A Witch is a woman who practises any art of asking 
counsel of the spirits of the dead. 

A Wizard is a medium for maintaining intercourse 
with departed spirits. 

A Necromancer is a revealer of secrets, or instructions 
from the spirits of the dead. 

An Enchanter is one who conjures up the spirits of the 
dead by cantilations and mysterious formulas. 

A Consulter with familiar spirits, is one who goes for 
advice to any one, who is supposed to have the power to 
call up spirits at will. 

The main idea presented in these and kindred appella- 
tives, is that of intercourse with demons and departed 
spirits for the purpose of learning from them the secrets 
of the other world, or seeking direction from them in any 
thing of interest in this. 

It does not therefore admit of debate, whether the 
practices of our modern media are pointed out by the use 
of these terms. This is conceded. There is now, as 
heretofore, a variety of media ; but the peculiarities which 
make the differences between them are mere accidents, 
extraneous to the common purpose of calling up the spir- 
its of departed friends for converse with the living. 

The Bible therefore is plainly arrayed against the whole 
of this business ; and every one that confides in it, is called an 
abomination to the Lord. Let this point be kept in view. 
All media, and all that confide with them, in the business 
of consulting the dead, are an abomination to the 
Lord, and were denounced by him, as worthy of the 
severest penalties for this wickedness. 



ANCIENT MEDIA. 817 

The Canaanites were expelled the land for their abomi- 
nations, that had been accumulating for ages by means of 
this mischievous intercourse. A large number of texts 
might be cited to show what great severity was used 
with those who dared to give currency to the impostures 
of Satan, by imitating the means of God for the commu- 
nication of his will. All these persons pretended to have 
intercourse with the dead, to receive by their manipula- 
tions, responses from the dead, and to convey to the in- 
quirer, communications from his friends in the spirit 
world. " Thus, when Aurelius inquired of ApoUo in re- 
gard to the soul of Plotinus, the god gave response in a 
poem of nearly a hundred hexameters in his praise, setting 
forth that he was with Plato and Pythagoras and holy 
demons." (Apocatastasis, p. 139.) 

Connected with their oracles, magical statues, tripods, 
and sacred springs and groves, there were many physical 
manifestations; but not without the use of fascination, en- 
chantment, incantation, divination, magic, etc., upon the 
part of the media, many of whom appear to have been 
females. " There is not a women here (at Colophon) as 
at Delphi, but a priest is elected from certain families, 
and mostly from Miletus, who is informed only of the 
name and number of those who come to consult the Oracle. 
Pie then retires into the cavern, and drinking of the secret 
fountain, though ignorant generally of letters and poetry, 
he delivers responses, hi verse, to whatever mental ques- 
tions any one has in his mind.'''' (Idem, 69.) Here is 
the very test now recommended to be used with spir- 
its through our media. 

These all come under the maledictions of God, as devil- 
ish arts in imitation of the well-known media, originally 
instituted by him, for the gradual unfolding of his Revela- 
tion as we have it in the Bible. 

These texts are great annoyances to our Spiritualists, 



318 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

and their attempts to get rid of them are lame and ludi- 
crous enough. After showing that ancient spirit commu- 
nion among the heathen led to idolatry, the conclusion is 
drawn by Mr. Fishhough, on " Familiar Spirits," that on 
this account alone such intercourse was prohibited. We 
think we can show, that the same tendency now exists. 
People do not forget the " big image" constructed at High 
Rock, Lynn, Mass. ; and we might cite many aspirations 
to the spirits, in the books of our friends, which looks very 
much like the idolatrous worship of the heathen ; but let 
that pass. 

We assert that the main cause of the heavy denuncia- 
tions of the Scriptures against all who by any means pre- 
tended to hold intercourse with the invisible world, was 
this : they were devilish imitations of the means God 
originally instituted for the expression of his will, and 
they have not lost their character in the hands of modern 
necromancers. 

Hence the irrelevancy of such defense as the following 
sets up : 

" We can now perceive clearly why habitual dealings 
with ' familiar spirits' were divinely prohibited in the 
Mosaic law. It was simply because those spirits, when 
consulted in those days, were uniformly consulted as petty 
divinities. Had the Jews been permitted they would, 
undoubtedly, have remained heathens. 

"But were the Jews prohibited unqualifiedly from 
holding communications with spirits ? I answer emphatic- 
ally, no ; and will proceed to prove that that class of be- 
ings called angels, with whom their patriarchs and pro- 
phets frequently held interviews, were not only spirits, (as 
they are acknowledged to have been,) but even human 
spirits. But we have room for only a brief summary of 
the existing proofs of this point. Thus the three angels 
who visited Abraham, while dwelling upon the plains of 
Mamre, were expressly called 'men.' (Gen. 18 : 2.) 



A LAME DEFENSE. 319 

The supermundane intelligences, who visited Lot pre- 
vious to the destruction of Sodom, were called both 
' angels' and 'men.' (Gen. 19 : 1, 12.) The prophet Ze- 
chariah speaks of a celestial apparition which appeared 
' among the myrtle trees,' and which he expressly calls 
both a ' man' and an ' angel,' (Zech. 1 : 8-1 1 ; 2 : 1-3 ;) 
and the prophet Daniel applies the same cognomen inter- 
changeably to the celestial visitants who appeared to him 
on several occasions. The last chapter of 2 Maccabees 
contains an account of an appearance of the spirit of Je- 
remiah the prophet to Onias the high-priest, in a form 
and office belonging only to angels; and much in the 
same form appeared Moses and Elias to Jesus at the time 
of his transfiguration. But what is, if possible, still more 
conclusive upon the point, is the following : after St. John 
had seen the wonderful visions, and heard the sayings, 
which are recorded in the Apocalypse, he says that he fell 
down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed 
him these things. Then said the angel : ' See thou do it 
not ; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren 
the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of 
this book : worship God.' (Rev. 22 : 8, 9.) If, as is here 
distinctly asserted, this angel was the spirit of one of the 
old prophets, then there is nothing to exclude the pre- 
sumption, favored by the nature of things as well as by 
numerous other passages, that all angels are in like man- 
ner but the ascended and purified spirits of men, which, 
as the term - angel' implies, are sent as messengers to this 
world." {Fishbough on Familiar Spirits) 

Appealing both to sacred and profane history, one of 
our most notable mediums and authors thus writes : 

" According to the Biblical history of the Garden of 
Eden, and the coincident heathen traditions of a golden 
age, this intercourse was enjoyed by the first human be- 
ings that dwelt upon the earth. Thence it is traceable 
through the history of Cain and Abel, of Enoch, of Noah, 
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Joseph, of Moses, of 
Samuel, of Saul, of David, and thence through the long 
i»ae of the Jewish prophets, seers, priests, and other in- 



320 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

teriorly minded persons of the same nation. Nay, its 
light had not died out among the Jews before, and in the 
days of Jesus, as the vision of Zacharias, the dreams of 
Joseph, the angel-annunciation to the shepherds con- 
cerning the birth of the infant Messiah, etc, fully testify." 
[Spiritualism, vol. ii., pp. 57, 58.) 

It is a singular fact that writers in defense of this 
movement, though denying the plenary inspiration of the 
Bible, and often denying its facts and doctrines, yet feel 
the necessity of pressing into their service, for proof, 
every portion of its text that may answer a turn. Unbe- 
lievers in the Bible may properly use it, in the "argu- 
nientum ad hominem," against their opponents ; but then 
they can not quote it in proof of any position of their own. 
Thus one writer, for instance, in order to prove a point, 
says : " An angel took his position at the entrance of the 
terrestrial Paradise with ' a flaming sword which turned 
every way to guard the tree of life.' (Gen. 3 : 24 ;") and 
in proving another point, holds this language : " In it 
(self-communion) we hear ' the voice of the Lord God,' as 
did the fabled Adam in the cool of the day." (Divine 
Illumination, pp. 10, 5V.) If the author believed that 
Adam, was a fable, surely he had no right to quote from 
the scene in the Garden of Eden in proof of the existence 
or ministry of angels. 

Thus too, in the aforesaid quotation the " Biblical his- 
tory of the Garden of Eden" is put in the same class with 
" coincident heathen tradition of a golden age." We 
have met with similar instances in perusing the novel 
literature of Spiritualism, and feel bound to take exception 
to this simultaneous use and abuse of the same authority 
as utterly inconsistent, no matter what may be the felt 
necessity of extraneous support. 

Dr. Hare says : " The Bible of the Spiritualists is the 
book of Nature ; the only one which by inward or out- 



AN ASSUMPTION. 321 

ward evidence can be ascribed to divine authority." 
{Letter to Episcopal Clergy) " There are some parts of 
the Bible," says the spirit ' Bacon,' " which evidence 
the profound knowledge which the spirits that dictated 
it had of human nature." {Spiritualism, vol. ii., p. 229.) 
Its authority therefore as a divine directory is denied. 
But if its facts are to be made use of to furnish respect- 
ability to the facts of modern spirit manifestation, it must 
be aUowed the prerogative of stating the true source of 
those facts, and its statements on that point must be ad- 
mitted as decisive. 

Spiritualists aver, that all these facts, ancient biblical, 
and modern spiritual, spring from one and the same 
source, namely the spirits of dead men. They say, 
that angels are none other than the souls of men far ad- 
vanced in the spheres ; and thus all communications made 
to mortals from the other world, are through the agency 
of departed spirits. 

But the Bible must decide this matter. It attributes 
its phenomena directly to God, as in the case of the seers ; 
" Thus saith Jehovah :" or to Angels, who appeared fre- 
quently to the patriarch in assumed bodies, and by whose 
agency special interpositions were made. In no case are 
we led to suppose them of the same nature with human 
beings. 

The first man was driven out of paradise, and an angel 
was placed at its entrance. Did Moses design to desig- 
nate by the latter, one of a different order from that of 
man, or did he mean to introduce to us a man who had 
become exalted in the spiritual world before the creation 
of the first man ? David says, in Psalm 8 : " What is 
man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, 
that thou dost visit him ? for thou hast made him a lit- 
tle lower than the angels." The Sadducees are said by 

14* 



322 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Luke not to believe in " angel or spirit." Does this mark 
no distinction ? Paul, in speaking of Christ, says, 
(Heb. 1 :) " For verily he took not on him the nature of 
angels," (or, he taketh not hold of angels,) " but he took 
on him the seed of Abraham," (or, of the seed of Abra- 
ham he taketh hold.) Here the distinction is so clearly 
made that we can not suppose angels and men to be of 
the same nature without running ourselves into the 
absurdity of deciding what was the ancient belief on this 
subject against the recorded assertions of the believers 
themselves. 

To meet this, a quondam Universalist minister, as 
above, says : " But what is, if possible, still more conclu- 
sive upon the point is the following : After St. John had 
seen the wonderful visions, and heard the sayings which 
are recorded in the Apocalypse, he says that he fell down 
to worship before the feet of the angel who showed him 
these things. Then said the angel : ' See thou do it not ; 
for I am thy fellow-servant, and op thy brethren, the 
prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this 
book; worship God.' (Rev. 22 : 8, 9.) If, as is here dis- 
tinctly asserted, this angel was the spirit of one of the old 
prophets, then there is nothing to exclude the presump- 
tion, favored by the nature of things, as well as by 
numerous other passages, that all angels are in like man- 
ner but the ascended and purified spirits of men, which, 
as the term ' angel ' implies, are sent as messengers to this 
world." 

Perhaps it is a pity to spill any man's broth, but in 
this instance we can not help it. The writer ought to 
have known that the true rendering of this passage is as 
follows : " See thou do it not, for I am cvvdovXog gov, 
a fellow-servant with thee, and with the prophets, thy 
brethren, and with those who keep the words of this 
booJc." It is not, therefore, " distinctly asserted that this 



A SHEER FALLACY. 323 

angel was the spirit of one of the old prophets ;" but the 
distinct assertion is, that he was not, and that he was a 
fellow-worshipper of God. Hence the greatest proof, 
which has been copied and recopied, in favor of the iden- 
tity of the angelic and human natures, is a sheer fallacy. 

It is clear, then, that by the Bible account of the mat- 
ter, intercourse between this world and the next was not 
carried on by the instrumentality of departed spirits. 
According to its own consistent representations, its facts 
pertaining to this intercourse have no common origin 
with the facts of modern Spiritualism, and can not be 
used hi an argument favoring the latter, because these 
last facts are owing, as is said, to the spirits of dead men. 
The former prove, what every Christian believes, that 
there is now, as there always has been, intimate commun- 
ion between heaven and earth carried on by angels, who 
are "ministering spirits, sent to minister to them that 
shall be the heirs of salvation." This intercourse is of a 
high religious character, maintained by angels, not 
through physical manifestations, but by unseen agency, 
exerted for the providential benefit of the heirs of salva- 
tion; and this is in conformity with the teachings of 
the entire Scriptures. 

According to the unanimous testimony of writers on 
Spiritualism, the visitors with whom they hold intercourse 
are to be subjected to the severest possible ordeal, be- 
cause many of them are gross liars and deceivers, per- 
sonating good spirits, and deceiving in a variety of 
ways, so that great caution is required in every case. 
One thing is, therefore, clearly proved by the modern 
manifestations, that we are endangered through them, by 
the agency oe evil spibits. Therefore the facts of 
Bible spiritual agency can not be claimed as giving coun- 
tenance to our modern movement, or affording the least 



324 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

shred to it of a "garment of praise;" nor can the Bible 
itself be made to turn state's evidence against its friends. 

In the following chapter, we will demonstrate that the 
doctrines of the spirits, as put forth through various me- 
dia, are subversive of the Bible, conflicting with and hos- 
tile to the whole Christian system, and therefore should 
be rejected as a Satanic device to delude and destroy. 
It will be perfectly apparent, that no two things can be 
more directly opposed and antagonistic to each other, 
than Christianity and Spiritualism. If one is received, the 
other must be rejected; if one is of God, the other 
must be of the Devil ; and hence the mighty consequences 
flowing from the decision of every man upon this matter 
to his own soul, surround our investigation with no ordi- 
nary interest and importance. It is of the utmost conse- 
quence that the wdiole matter be spread out before those 
who are debating with themselves a surrender to the 
spiritual guidance of this system. No one can know it 
until they have at least become acquainted with the facts 
and doctrines deduced from its unquestionable authori- 
ties ; and having, with great pains, placed these before 
our Spiritualist readers, we say to them what the pro- 
phet said to the deluded Israelites : " If the Lord be God, 
follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him." 

The word of God, therefore, entirely condemns, in all 
its forms, the practice of necromancy, as daily followed 
by our Spiritualists. We have proved its superiority as 
a test, and as Dagon fell before the ark, and was broken 
to Dieces, so must demoniacal Spiritualism fall by the 
test of the Holy Bible. 



DOCTRINES DEFIED. 325 



CHAPTER Vm. 

"Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?"— Matt. 7 : 16. 

THE DOCTRINES OF SPIRITUALISM SUBVERSIVE OF CHRIST- 
IANITY, AND HEATHENISH. 

Third Test of Spiritualism continued — Doctrines of Demons — Doctrines 
denied — Doctrines taught — A Hash of Heathen Mythologies — Another 
Gospel — Charon and the Styx — The Spirits condemned by what they 
say and do— A Supposed Plea anticipated. 

We shall further test the spirits by the doctrines they 
inculcate. The popular belief among the heathen, from 
the beginning, has been that demons are the spirits of dead 
men ;. all Spiritualists say that the doctrines they believe 
and teach are the instructions of dead men ; therefore 
they prove that their new religion is an embodiment of 
the " doctrines of demons ;" and hence they are heathen, 
both by their faith and their rejection of the doctrines of 
the Gospel. 

The New Testament always uses the word demon in a 
bad sense, conveying the idea of diabolical influence. 
Paul says : " Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in 
the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving 
heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons," 
(devils,) (1 Tim. 4:1.) This prediction, uttered nearly 
eighteen hundred years ago, is now clearly fulfilled. The 



326 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

boast is made, that a great number have left the Christian 
Church, having embraced modern Spiritualism. We have 
no reason to question the fact, and so long as tares may 
be rooted up without disturbing the wheat, there can be 
nothing to lament, though much to regret. That many 
of the spirits and their agents are seducers is admitted ; 
but beyond this, we have proved those spirits accepted as 
the most reliable, to be of this character. The numerous 
defections of nominal Christians, having thus been se- 
duced into a belief of the doctrines of demons, furnish an 
argument from Scriptural prophecy in behalf of Christ- 
ianity, stronger than any that our modem antagonists 
can boast of. This is the second instance of circumstan- 
tial proof we have noticed in our favor, and against 
them. 

The " doctrines of demons" mean those proceeding 
from demons, and not the old system of demonology ? 
which is doctrines concerning demons, and of course are 
opposed to the doctrines of Christianity. That such make 
up the whole system of belief avowedly inculcated by the 
demons of modern Spiritualism, we shall prove by the 
specific negations and affirmations of their amanuenses. 

These demons, through their media, dent : 

1. The plenary inspiration of the sacred Scriptures. 

" The Bible of the Spiritualists is the book of Nature, 
the only one which, by inward or outward evidence, can 
be ascribed to divine authority." [Hare's Letter.) 

" I affirm that the Protestant idea of an infallible Bible, 
writer is the firm foundation of Popish despotism. {A. J. 
Davis.) 

" You believe the whole Bible to be the word of God. 
I do not. {J. S. Adams) 

" I have thus discussed your argument in support of 
the certain truth of the Bible, and have shown that it can 



DOCTRINES DENIED. 327 

not be esteemed such a truth as to be made the test of 
truth." (P. E. Bland.) 

" The Bible is not, in all respects, a perfect revelation. 
On the contrary, it is fraught with numerous imper- 
fections." " The assumption that the canonical Scriptures 
all emanated ' from the spirit of God,' in any other way 
than that universal sense wherein all things are said to 
proceed from him, is grossly absurd and entirely indefens- 
ible. (S. B. Brittan.) 

" Somewhere you said-to-be-inspired writers say : 
' When I would do good evil is present with me.' " 
{Spirit Bacon, in Spiritualism, vol. i., p. 191.) 

" There are some parts of the Bible which evidence 
the profound knowledge which the spirits who dictated 
it had of human nature. One passage, in particular, is 
not only expressive, but it comes to the very doors of our 
heai-ts, and knocks for entrance. I refer to the passage 
where it is said, ' Come, now, and let us reason together !' " 
[Idem, vol. ii., p. 229.) But if spirit Bacon had completed 
his quotation, as the sentence is in the Bible, he would 
have added, " saith Jehovah," and then we should have 
had the profound thought without obscurity, and the 
grand assurance beyond doubt, that God Almighty has 
a vast knowledge of human nature ! ! 

Surely, my Lord Bacon must have sadly retrogressed, 
to have been guilty of such a quotation, contrary to the 
fundamental doctrine of " progression" and " develop- 
ment" ; or the authors of " Spiritualism," in two octavo 
volumes, have been grossly deceived. Which horn gores 
the worst ? 

2. They deny that the Scriptures are a sufficient rule 
of faith and practice. 

" The fact," it is said, " the fact that thousands with the 
Bible in their hands have been utterly faithless, and have 



328 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

lived and died without hope, proves that the Bible is not 
equally well suited to the demands of every phase of 
mind, hence that it is not perfectly adapted to the neces- 
sities of every man" ! (S. B. JBrittan.) 

Spiritualism must therefore supply the deficiency, be- 
cause " some men, like Thomas, require oracular demon- 
stration" ! 

Dr. Hare says, with ill-concealed malignity, and bald 
untruth : " Christ has no better reward for his apostles 
than visionary temporal judgeships, which neither did nor 
can come into existence." 

He further says that the precepts of the Gospel " are as 
utterly impracticable as unwise in the abstract," (p. 211 
Spiritualism Demonstrated?) 

"Who can read the following without exclaiming upon 
the gross ignorance and hatred that simmers to the sur- 
face of such bubbling scum ? 

" Nothing can be further from my idea of a happy state 
than the benefaction promised to them. 

"The query and reply are subjoined, in order to enable 
the reader to judge of both : 

" '•Behold, we ham left all and followed thee ; what shall 
we have therefor P (Misquoted.) 

" The Saviour answered the above inquiry, when made 
by Peter, as follows : ' When the Son of Man shall sit 
in the throne of his glory, ye shall also sit upon twelve 
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of IrsaeV 

" Here is a direct answer, by Christ, to an inquiry re- 
specting the nature of the reward which his disciples were 
to have for their merits as his faithful devotees. They are 
to be made severally worldly dignitaries ; each is to sit 
on a throne, judging a tribe of Irsael. That is, they are 
to have worldly preeminence, accompanied, of course, 
by all the vexations attendant on such stations, as well as 
the uncertainty and limitation arising from liability to 
death and disease. How weak and worldly-minded must 
his disciples have been, could such a prospect be alluring 



DOCTRINES DENIED. 329 

to them ! I ask for any sectarian to say, in candor, whe- 
ther a governorship over one of the wealthiest States, the 
presidency, or any sovereignty in Christendom, would be 
deemed a heaven, in comparison with that eternity of 
ineffable happiness enjoyed by the immortal spirits of 
the higher spheres? 

" There is an immense superiority in the conceptions of 
futurity, given by my immortal advisers, in comparison with 
those attributed, as above, to Christ" ! {Hare's Letter) 

Of the truth of this, let us judge from the fact, that they 
do not soar above the beatific " visions" of the Judge, 
the glories of a " saw-mill," and the nectar of " butter- 
milk" ! 

3. They not only deny the Trinity, but the Personali- 
ty of God. 

Thus spirit Bacon : " God is a principle and also an 
identity" ! " I have never found one spirit who can ex- 
plain what the principle, God is." {Spiritualism, vol. ii., 
p. 238.) Spirit Pythagoras asserts the same pantheistic 
notion. 

4. They deny not only the " fall of angels," but their 
existence as a distinct order, different from the nature of 
man. 

We are told that the word angel is usually applied, in 
Scripture, to a being delivered from the fleshly form — a 
spirit once a man on earth — one that has become such by 
having passed through the great experience called death. 
(Div. Illumination, p. 8.) 

" Angels are the spirits of departed human beings." 
{Spirit Intercourse, p. 18.) 

5. They deny the existence and fall of our first parents 
in Eden. 

Spirit Swedenborg says : " That there was a first man 
especially and particularly created to occupy the garden 



330 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

of Eden, is opposed to all my belief of what the character 
of God is." {Spiritualism, vol. i., p. 126.) 

" This first man and this first woman are bnt a fiction 
—an allegory." {Gel. Tel., vol. i., p. 78.) 

6. They deny the doctrine of total depravity. This is 
thus acknowledged : 

" It is readily granted that Spiritualism rejects the 
common notion respecting a ' fall of angels' ' total deprav- 
ity,' and the ' atonement.' " (Meview of JBeecher by Brit- 
tan, p. 46.) 

7. They deny the miraculous birth of Christ, and ridi- 
cule it, and blaspheme. 

Dr. Hare says : " The intercourse of the angel 
Gabriel rests upon the evidence of Mary alone, who was 
interested immensely to make her child a god, instead of 
being her own illegitimate offspring"!! (P. 217; also, 
New Test. Miracles and Mod. Miracles Comp., pp. 31, 
32 ; Spiritualism, vol. i., pp. 209-212.) 

8. They deny the divinity of Christ. (Numerous 
authorities.) 

9. They deny the sacrifice and atonement of Christ. 
(Numerous authorities.) 

Dr. Hare says : " Nothing can be more inconsistent 
with the religion inculcated by my spirit friends, than the 
idea of atonement for sin by faith in any religion, true or 
false." " Since my sister's translation to the spheres, she 
has risen from the fifth to the sixth sphere. It has been 
alleged by her that her ascent toas retarded by her belief 
in the atonement"// (Pp. 214, 229.) 

10. They deny the official relation of Christ, as the 
only Saviour. (Numerous authorities.) 

11. They deny the righteousness of Christ, available 
for human redemption. (Numerous authorities.) 

12. They deny the literal resurrection of Christ's body 
from the tomb. 



DOCTRINES TAUGHT. 331 

13. They deny the second personal coming of Christ. 

14. They deny the doctrine of original sin. {Spirit- 
ualism, vol. i., p. 215.) 

15. They deny the doctrine of the general resurrection. 
(Numerous authorities.) 

16. They deny the existence of Hell, the Devil, and 
his angels. (All agree in this.) 

Such are the items of their negative belief, but they 
do not exceed the enormities of their positive teachings, 
as we shall see. 

1. They teach, that Reason is our supreme judge and 
guide in religious matters. 

To the judgment of reason the final appeal is to be 
made, upon the real character and the entire doc- 
trines of the spirits. No matter what they teach, if we 
find that our reason does not assent, we are to reject it. 
Hence it follows that the revelations of the progressed 
mind are to be tried by the test of the unprogressed 
mind! and the Bible of course, is subjected to the same 
ordeal. 

2. They teach that the Bible is full of errors, of which 
it is the mission of Spiritualism to purify the human 
mind! {Spiritualism, vol. i., p. 224.) 

3. They teach that it is of no higher authority than 
the modem revelations of demons or the soids of the 
dead. 

4. They teach that God is an all-pervading principle, 
and not a person. 

This is an element in various forms of Hindooism. 

5. They teach Pantheism. Thus — Spirit Swedenborg 
teaches, " The sun that you behold is the God of heaven 
and earth ;" " Spirits know no other, and God has never 
been seen in any other form." ( Celestial Telegraph, vol. 
i., p. 109.) 



332 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

If this be so, then Heathen are right in worshipping 
the sun ! 

" The idea of God's j)ersonality, has descended to the 
present time, and the mass still worship a monstrous hu- 
man potentate instead of the controlling principle of 
Nature." " The Chinese bowing before thek idols, the 
Hindoo prostrating himself before the crushing wheels of 
Juggernaut, the fire-worshipper venerating the rising 
king of day, are no more idolatrous than those who wor- 
ship a personified deity. But you say — this idea of 
Deity will lead to Pantheism. What if it does ? Can 
there be no truth in Pantheism ? I care not from whence 
truth is derived. I never trouble myself as to the origin 
of an idea. If reason approves it, I am satisfied. Pan- 
theism may contain some correct views. Even the lowest 
depths of Atheism rest upon some truths." 

" But how can you worship a principle, or a code of 
laws ?" 

" If the ancients called those attributes manifested in 
Nature, by the term God, and we now recognize in what 
this Deity consists, and if our devotion thus cease, it is 

no argument against our conception." Pythagoras also 

speaks of " the action of those great and comprehensive 
principles to which fathers gave the name ' Jehovah.' " 
" There is no distinction between Nature and God." 
" There should be no conformity except to Nature." {Life 
in the Spheres, pp. 132-143.) 

If the reader will turn back, where we give this quota- 
tion more fully, he will see this is Pantheism out and out, 
in its worst and most brutalizing form. This quotation 
is from an " address to a circle," by the Spirit of Pytha- 
goras, beginning thus : " Twenty-five centuries have 
rolled away since I passed from the rudimental sphere." 
This brave old Philosopher has therefore progressed very 



DOCTRINES TAUGHT. 333 

far in the spheres, and of course must he ahle to tell 
what God is. The work containing this famous " address" 
is published by Partridge & Brittan. The latter in his 
review of Mr. Beecher, denies that this doctrine is taught 
by Spiritualism ; but here is a work published with his own 
name on the title-page, containing it in all its deformity. 

" Let the mind go back to that period when the Spirit 
of the First Cause sprang forth, self-created. Imagine, 
that standing alone amid the everlasting space, he looks 
around and sees nothing existent but an infinite nothing, 
and then suppose him creating from his own body the 
several properties that constitute matter, and from another 
principle developing Spirit " / / (Spiritualism, vol. ii., 
p. 238.) 

Here is the beginning, middle, and end of Pantheism, 
taught by Spirit Bacon, and it exactly answers to the same 
doctrine in Hindooism. " From the union of Brahm, 
which contained the types of all things, with Maya, the 
principle of individualization, resulted the whole creation. 
But the universe existed at first in two original produc- 
tions, which were, so to say, the two great germs of it ; 
these were Mahabhonta, which is the condensation of all 
souls, all the subtile elements, and Pradjapati, which is 
the condensation of all the gross elements." (Epit Hist. 
Phil., vol. i., p. 21, published by the Harpers.) Thus we 
have proved Pantheism common to Modern Spiritualism 
and Hindooism. 

The Meatic Pantheists, in the Greek school of phi- 
losophy taught precisely the same doctrine of spiritual 
and material emanations from the principle God, which 
we find in the recent publications of modern Spiritualism. 
{Spiritualism, vol. ii., p. 314.) 

6. They teach the eternity of matter, (Spiritualism, 
vol. ii., 237 — Life in the Spheres, pp. 105-107 — Celestial 



334 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Telegraph, vol. i., p. 127 — Hare's Vol., p. 213.) This is a 

part of old Epicurianism. 

7. They teach Materialism. 

" What, then, do the believers in, or the Jcnowers in, 
the 'mysterious' noises mean by the word spirit? Of 
course, I can not speak for all ; but I venture to assert 
that I speak the senthnents of a vast majority when I 
say that they are entirely and ickolly materialists in their 
ideas, and rationalistic in their opinions?'' — {Modern 
/Spiritualism by Capron, p. 410.) 

8. They teach that the sotdts apart of God himself! 

" How have they (clergymen) represented the God 
who is unapproachable by human thought ? How have 
they described man, who is apart of that God himself "! 
(Spiritualism, vol. i., p. 226.) 

" The soul is a God of itself'''' I ! (Ibid., vol. i., p. 10, 
177, and other authorities.) 

This is going a little beyond Paganism. We do not 
remember to have seen such a sentiment so flatly laid 
down by the old Pagan authors. They worshipped their 
departed ancestors, but we do not see why our Spiritual- 
ists should not fall down and worship one another, as 
profoundly as their " principle God ;" for as they hold 
the soul to be a part of God ITSELF(!) and " as it is an 
emanation from the God, it possesses much of its nature, 
and it is only its admixture with matter that prevents its 
manifestitig the attributes which such an origin has con- 
ferred on it," (Idem, and Celestial Telegraph, vol i., p. 
128,) the soul differs from God not in hind, but de- 
gree I 

This is the Eclectic Spiritualism of the Arabian Philoso- 
phy. (Epit. Hist, Phil, vol i., p. 265-266.) 



DOCTRINES TAUGHT.. 335 

9. Thoy teach that sin is only a misfortune resulting 
from circumstances. Thus we are informed : " It must be 
conceded that the prodigious diversity between virtue and 
vice, is the consequence of contingencies, which are no 
more under the control of the individual affected, than 
the color of his hair, or the number of cubits in his 
stature " ! ! {Hare's Letter.) 

Pythagoras says to a self-accusing spirit : " Blame no 
one for their follies, but blame the circumstances in 
which you were placed. They were bad ; popular opinion, 
before which you bent, was bad. All tended to make 
you what you were." {Life in the Spheres, p. 82.) 

" The vagabond that roams your streets, the circum- 
stances in which he was reared, and over which he had 
no control, made him ignorant, vicious, and criminal." 
{Idem, p. 137; also, Spiritualism, vol. i., p. 122 ; Hare's 
Vol., pp. 148, 241.) 

10. They teach that human merits purchase heaven. 
(Numerous authorities.) 

11. They teach that the doctrine of immortality is 
more effectually taught by Spiritualism than by the JBible. 
{Spiritualism, vol. ii., p. 60, and other authors.) 

The following falsehood is italicised by Prof. Hare : 
" The Old Testament does not impart a knowledge of 
immortality, without which religion were worthless. T/ie 
notions derived from the Gospel are vague, disgusting, 
inaccurate, and difficult to believe" !! ! {Hare's Vol., p. 
209.) 

12. They teach that Christ is a mere man, not only, 
but degrade him to the contemptible level of their own 
Media ! 

13. They teach that the prevention of sin was not 
within the ordinary control of God! 

Prof. Hare says : " Evil exists not through design, but 



336 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

in consequence of circumstances which He (God) cannot 
control or cure, unless through the operation of general 
principles." (P. 141.) 

" Instead of assuming, with orthodoxy, that our hea- 
venly Father is quite omnipotent, spirits hold that his 
powers are only such as this magnificent and almost 
infinite universe involves ; consequently there is no ne- 
cessity on their part to admit that every thing must he 
exactly as God wishes it to be !" (P. 403.) 



14. They teach the pre'existence of 

" Before appearing on earth man lived in a spiritual 
world similar to the one in which he lives on quitting the 
earth. Each awaits his turn in this world, to appear on 
earth, an appearance necessary ; a life of trial, none can 
escape it." (Cel. Tel, vol. L, pp. 111-113.) 

15. They teach and practise Necromancy ami Witch- 
craft. 

" Now, all the magic, the mysteries, the witchcraft, 
the necromancy of the ancient world, from the time of 
the Delphic Oracle, are explained by these modern in- 
vestigations ; and all popular delusions, however exagger- 
ated, are now shown to have truth for their basis." (Tall- 
madge's Letter to Simmons) 

We are informed that " the woman of Endor, so much 
vituperated by theological blackguards (!) was evidently 
truthful, kind-hearted, and forgiving." 

She belonged to the "higher class of mediums in Saul's 
time." {Spirit. Int., p. 15.) 

"The practice of Necromancy is admitted and justi- 
fied." {Biv. Ilium., p. 39.) 

16. They teach that future rewards are Mohammedan 
paradises, and future punishment is simply restraint and 
shame. {Edmondses Visions. Hare, 119, 122, 13V. Cel. 
Tel, vol. i., p. 65.) 



DOCTRINES TAUGHT. 3 1! 7 

17. They teach the doctrine of Purgatory. 

" There are different places where suffering exists, not 
as it is presented to us ; they are places of trial, wherein 
you are purified, without suffering, except that of being 
deprived of the sight of God. As I have told you, God 
is so good, he has so great love for us that he punishes us 
merely by a reprimand ; but this punishment is very sen- 
sitive, seeing that it is inflicted before all in heaven, then 
it would be an impossibility for us to do evil, since the 
bad thoughts which engender it are of the domain of the 
earth, which is the real hell, and rest buried there with 
our mortal remains." {Gel. Tel., vol. i., p. 10.) 

" ' There is no such hell as is depicted on earth ; there 
are places of purification, which are termed places of 
punishment, because one is there deprived of the sight of 
God and his divine light ; but those who are there are 
happy? — 'And all great criminals, where are they ?' ' In 
similar places, assembled in society; but, as God is so 
good, he provides for all, prevents evil, and reestablishes 
good in the hearts of all.' " {Gel. Tel., vol i., p. 56.) 

Here is proffered the largest bounty for crime ! Ho ! 
all ye pests of society, ye who delight in scenes of rioting, 
and drunkenness, and all manner of vice and villainy, ye 
who oppress and revel in human suffering, ye who make 
the largest, longest, and boldest experiments in wicked- 
ness, ye whose life is pestilence, whose career is a curse 
upon society, ye haberdashers in the service of sin, ye 
votaries of iniquity " dyed in the wool," ye dealers in 
blood and human grief, rejoice, for great is your reward 
in purgatory and heaven ! 

18. They teach Universal salvation. (Numerous au- 
thorities.) 

19. They teach that all religions are equally acceptable 
to God. 

" ' Are all religions agreeable to God ?' ' Yes, when 
they are founded on these two principles.' — 'But the 
1-5 



338 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

practices of these religions, are they approved by him ?' 
k Yes, when they aim at the object I have just defined.' — 
' Still, human reason is less repugnant to accepting the 
offerings or sacrifices made to God in certain mild re- 
ligions than in others which seem ridiculous or savage.' 
6 There are no ridiculous or savage practices in the eyes 
of God; the disciples of such religions believe they make 
themselves agreeable to him by offering him such a thing, 
or praying to him in such a manner. It is the love, with 
which they are penetrated for God that animates them, 
and God accepts with the same impartiality whatsoever is 
offered him with a view of being agreeable to him !' — 
' There existed, and there still exist, nations that offer up 
human victims to God in their sacrifices ; is that agreeable 
to God?' 'Yes, for these men offer up to him their 
dearest possessions in the persons of their children, 
brethren, and friends ; they give him a proof of a superior 
love which God can not reject, especially when these men 
are convinced of the value of their offering, and make it 
not with indifference.' " ! ! ! ( Gel. Tel, vol. ii., pp. 64, 65.) 

20. They teach and inculcate the uprooting and de- 
struction or Christianity! ! 

" ' The revelations through the mediums vary some- 
what, yet all are of a radical character. They teach the 
overthrow of existing church organizations, and say that 
vital changes must be made in the social and commercial 
world. The belief in the spiritual agency of these teach- 
ings being quite general, and becoming more so every 
day, the effect will be, as we previously stated, to form a 
great radical party, which will develop itself ere-long, and 
astonish the world by its strength.' " {Mod. Spiritual- 
ism, p. 308.) 

In proof of this, we present a war-like communication 
from the spirit of Rev. W. Wisheart ; found in Epit. 
Spir. Int., pp. 107, 108. 

" The guerilla warfare is well in its place, but a regular 
army is needed to give complete efficiency. It is almost 



DOCTRINES TAUGHT. 339 

time to stop putting new cloth on old garments ; there 
will be enough half-breeds left behind to keep the old so- 
cial organization in a constant ferment, and enough mem- 
bers of spiritualist communities detached from time to 
time to carry on offensive operations ; but every thorough 
Spiritualist should have a home among his kindred. In- 
dividual sovereignty is well ; unity is better ; purity is 
indispensable ; but love, guided by wisdom, will fuse them 
in one homogeneous mass. "We shall shake the old social 
organization to its centre ; we will shiver it in fragments ; 
we defy opposition ; we court inquiry ; we scorn intimi- 
dation ; we know our mission, and we can not fail. We 
are not omnipotent, and can not control conditions ; but 
we know what we can do, and the future is not hidden 
to us. Arrest the hurricane, defy the earthquake, drive 
back the rail-car at full speed, by standing in its way, but 
think not to stop our work" ! ! 

These are brave words, but we fancy they sound more 
like the gasconading of a devil, than the utterance of a 
good spirit. Our Spiritualists are quite too sure of their 
game. There is a story of one Goliah, in that old book 
they make the butt of their ridicule, from which they 
might derive a profitable lesson. 

21. They teach that Spiritualism is to inaugurate 
the Millennium. 

Thus Dr. Dexter writes, and he is evidently earnest, 
sincere, and withal one of their best writers : 

" Since the ' salt' of the Church has, in respect to these 
matters, (he has been speaking of,) ' lost its savor, and is 
henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trod- 
den under foot of men,' it has pleased Divine Providence 
to develop this conserving element of which we have 
spoken, in the form of what is now termed Spiritualism." 

" Is there, then, no hope for this state of progress and 
happiness for man, either under the dispensations of the 
old revelations or the promises and prospects of this new 
disclosure ? For eighteen hundred years the world has 



340 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

waited for the coming of that day when man should live 
in harmony with his brother and in fellowship with God. 
Prophets and priests have foretold its advent, and pre- 
dicted the millennium by the positive promises which 
have been made by spirits of the other world. And may 
it not be that the shades of that long night are now shim- 
mering into new-born clay, the dawn of which colors the 
shadows of ages with its own bright tints of hope and 
promise ! Even now the prayer ascends from millions of 
happy hearts, disenthralled and redeemed from death to 
life by the power of those truths which Spiritualism has 
revealed — that the time may soon come when peace shall 
reign on earth, and good-will to man be manifest in the 
earnest endeavor of all to assist each other to increase 
their own exellence, and the purity and happiness of the 
whole race." 

Thus we have shown the creed of Modern Spiritualists 
both in its negative and positive form. And although 
they have the assurance to arrogate to it the name of 
Christianity, for the sake of popularizing the system, it 
will be seen there is not the faintest semblance between 
it and the " faith once delivered to the saints." So very 
far from this, no well-read man can fail to see, that it is a 
miserable hash op heathen mythologies, in which even 
the teachings of Christ are degraded below those of 
demons ! 

Such being the doctrines of this spirit-theology, we are 
left to guess what its operation will be in morals. Nay, 
we are wrong. Its great apostle, Dr. Hare, who presents 
his credentials from the spirits, and who was thus ad- 
dressed by his spirit-sister : " My brother, I would say a 
word to you touching your duty in regard to the present 
dispensation. You occupy a prominent and important 
place in the dissemination of this most glorious Gospel" ! 
does not leave us to guess. He has given us a broad 
hint, p. 241 : 



SPIRITUALISM ACCURSED. 341 

" 1263. Were his (man's) organization and education 
dependent on himself, it might be reasonable to say to a 
human being: Love your neighbor as yourself ; love your 
enemies ; but how can that Deity who determines man's 
race and his parentage, and of course whether he be a 
savage or a civilized man, whether a Thug or a real 
Christian, if such a thing can be — how can that Deity re- 
quire a being to do that which is irreconcilable with his 
passions, opinions, and habits, derived from nature and 
education, as well as the examples set by those around 
him ?''!!! 

The spirit-literature of this movement labors to deny or 
to pervert the doctrines of Christianity, and to establish 
another gospel holding out immunity to crime. There 
is not a devil on earth or in hell, that would not hail and 
heartily approve of this system. It removes all restraints 
from the wicked, it gives encouragement to the licentious 
and the vile to prosecute their nefarious ways, and is well 
fitted to harden the heart of every profligate against every 
just, and virtuous, and noble sentiment of the gospel of 
Christ. Our evidence of the horrid fact we have spread 
out before the reader, and there is much more of the 
same sort left. This is the gospel of the " New Dispensa- 
tion," which already has proved to thousands the bitter- 
ness of gall, and the ruin of their temporal peace. Well 
did Paul perceive the issue of such delusion when he said : 
" Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other 
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto 
you, let him be accursed." 

The few truths entering the system which may be pre- 
sented as first principles, no one can deny ; but in their 
unnatural connections, being shorn of their power, they 
just serve to gild the bitter pill which poisons the moral 
system, and carries the unerring dart of death to every 
reasonable hope and every rational prospect of heaven. 



342 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Some of the worst features of the heathen mythologies 
it adopts, and attempts to palm off as heaven-sent verities 
to soothe the human heart, fretted by the repulsive doc- 
trines of " popular theology," and to help man onward 
in "Progression" ! Thus, in solemn, figure-forbidding 
prose, spirit Pythagoras says : " Death is a great leveller. 
Wlien Charon wafts the weary soul over the Styx, he 
strips it of all wealth, titles, honors, and ornaments" ! ! 
{Life in the Spheres, p. 137.) 

Who shall say that the venerable philosopher, now 
" twenty-five centuries" old, in the spheres, has less claim 
upon our confidence than any one of the great spirits that 
have dictated the new system ? Yet, according to him, Cha- 
ron and the Styx are great realities, to engage the sober 
consideration of our Spiritualists. It will not do to ac- 
cuse him of being a " lying spirit," to get rid of these ex- 
humed fossil remains of a barbarous age ; for, according 
to the internal evidence pervading spiiit-talk, all the rest 
would be in the same condemnation. The credentials of 
Pythagoras are equal to any from the same source ever 
presented in modern times. This, then, we claim as an 
additional evidence of the heathenism of the system : 
" Charon wafts the weary soul over the Styx" ! ! Take 
care, gentlemen, of that old fellow ; be sure, every man 
of you, to have his " obolus" ready ! 

But Mr. Brittan says : "We insist that the real charac- 
ter of the spirits is most clearly revealed in what they do 
and say.'''' Agreed. We insist, that out of their own 
mouth, (if they have any) they stand condemned ; and 
pitiable, indeed, is the condition of those that have been 
misled ; for all who believe in demonology are on the high 
road to demonolatry and demonocracy, and ultimately 
shall become demonomists in a worse state and place than 
the black sand plane, the vision of which, vouchsafed to 



A PLEA ANTICIPATED. 343 

the Judge, must be terrible, especially to Long Island 
farmers. 

" The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat 
One's self. All sin is easy after that." 

That the foregoing synopsis of the doctrines of Spirit- 
ualism will be denied, scarcely admits of a doubt ; for 
they are so repulsive to common-sense, so disorganizing 
to our social happiness and peace in their practical ten- 
dencies, and so abominable in their evident effects upon 
the soul, in time and eternity, that we shall see there will 
be felt a necessity to repudiate, under the convenient plea 
that for individual opinions, as put forth in the books we 
have quoted, Spiritualism is not to be held accountable. 
We shall be told, that the doctrines of the " New Dispen- 
sation" are simply " the immortality of the soul," " love 
to God and man," " holy communion with departed 
friends," and " eternal progression." 

But this plea will be of no avail; because these doc- 
trines are set forth as taught by good and well-progressed 
spirits, commissioned by God to teach them, and these 
spirits have all been tested and their characters proved as 
worthy of our reliance. They are none of your miserable 
gibbering ghosts, whose ignorance and depravity have con- 
signed them to the purgatory of the black sand plane, where 
they must sweat for consequences of unpropitious circum- 
tances, over which they had no control. Neither do they 
come from villains of spiritual power, whose " lips were 
lined with the immortal he, and dyed with all the look of 
truth ;" for such can be detected : but they come from 
noble spirits, whose wisdom, kindness, intelligence, 
strength, beauty, and supernal worth, have all been tried. 
They have shown their credentials and have been accept- 
ed, and their teachings, communicated through remarka- 
bly gifted media, all of good character, honest and true 



344 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

even to a fault, have been widely published in books, 
large and small, at great expense. It would, therefore, 
be preposterous to deny that any of these teachings, so 
well attested, do not belong to Spiritualism. They come 
not from human brains, nor from unprogressed spirits, but 
from the holy inhabitants of the upper spheres. So say 
our Spiritualists ; and the industry with which they are 
circulated is an insurmountable bar to any such plea as we 
have supposed will be made. 



N.B. — Since writing the above, the author has discov- 
ered a fraud, the mention of which he is unwilling to 
omit. It is this : On the second page of the appendix of 
Judge Edmonds' first vol. on Spiritualism, there is afac- 
simile of the " handwriting of Swedenborg," given pro- 
fessedly by himself controlling the passive hand of Dr. 
Dexter. The writer has recently examined the real fac- 
simile at the rooms of the Swedenborgian Society in the 
Bible House, and hereby certifies that they are totally 
diverse from each other. This goes to strengthen our 
previously-written argument on the personating of de- 
mons. And as the Judge and the Doctor have been in 
this instance manifestly imposed upon, we hold that the 
imposition has been practised throughout, and that they 
are victimized. 



THE CONFLICTS OF CHRISTIANITY. 345 



CHAPTER IX. 



' True venom churns the froth out of the lips ; 
It works and works, like any waterwheel."— Fbstus. 



WAR UPON CHRISTIANITY. 

Christianity has survived its former Enemies— Character and Plan of the 
New Adversary — Anti-Christ shown to be an Incarnation of the Devil- 
Modern Spiritualism most likely to develop Him — Spirit Swedenborg 
confirms this view — War proclaimed— Proofs from Spiritualist-Authors 
— Attack upon Christ — His Precepts maligned — Old Testament assailed 
— Attack upon the Sabbath — Morals of Christians assailed — The Assail- 
ant a Duellist— Further Proof— Spiritualists honest, but deceived. 

The Cause of Christ has lived throughout the storms 
of eighteen hundred years. The map of the world mean- 
while, has often been changed. Nations, dynasties, and 
institutions of various forms have arisen, flourished for a 
time, and " as though an earthquake smacked its mumb- 
ling lips o'er some thick-peopled city," they all have disap- 
peared. 

Where now is there one of these unbroken, to com- 
pare dates with Christianity ? Yet she has never known 
the absence of a foe. Her enemies have ever been ad- 
vancing by legions ; and by legions they have perished 
at her feet. Often have they changed all modes of at- 
tack, and as often have been foiled. Her dearest interests 
have indeed been scarred by open enemies who have 
15* 



346 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

gained advantage in unfair battle, but none have ever in- 
jured her so much as those who wore her costume, gamed 
her confidence, and under the mask of friendship, be- 
trayed her cause. Still she lives a tower of strength. 
Through hidden channels she receives from her great 
Head, whom all good spirits honor and adore, uncon- 
querable courage. Himself has nerved her for the conquest 
of a victory in every struggle. She bears " the sword 
of the spirit," and is well covered by her "shield of 
faith," and " helmet of salvation." 

Open infidelity now no longer rejoices in the intellect- 
ual power of giants. They are all dead, though their 
cause yet lives ; and is furious in its weakness. The war- 
worn weapons of Porphory and Celsus, of Gibbon, 
Hume, Voltaire, and Paine, and others sharing their 
inglorious fame, are wielded now by feebler hands un- 
guided by a competency of wit and skill ; and further- 
more, by frequent smiting on the bosses of her buckler, 
their edges have been badly battered. Hence they are 
unfit for service, unless relaid, and ground by " spirit- 
hands," and used under the direction of " spirit-brains," 
because the human have been worn out in the service. 

" The Prince of the power of the air" seemed to have 
exhausted all his wisdom, in devising the destruction of 
Christianity ; but his inventive genius has lately hit upon 
another plan, which adds to his renown as an experienced 
tactician. This plan unites the aforesaid power, with 
human agency, in a scheme of demonocracy ; in which, as 
commander-in-chief whose existence must be denied, 
himself, shall direct cohorts of spirits clad in the garb of 
angels of light and with concealed weapons, to over- 
spread the world, unite with fleshly enemies, use the 
nomenclature of Christianity, and by their wondrous arts, 
bewilder the " simple faithful", and make them believe 



A PERSONAL ANTI-CHRIST. 347 

they have a new revelation which, by the command of 
God and by the laws of " development," must supplant 
the old forms of faith, correct the gross mistakes of man- 
kind, and deliver them from their thraldom to the priest- 
craft of Christianity. When thus by wonders, not mira- 
cles, they have entranced the senses, and by words, thus 
enforced, have gained the attention of the awe-struck, 
then they will unsheathe their weapons and cut every liga- 
ment that binds the human heart to the cause of salva- 
tion by the atonement of Christ ! 

This is the plan. Confessedly it is well devised, and in 
its execution, promises to phosphoresce a while, and amaze 
the world by extra-mundane sights, and sounds, and 
spirit-pyrotechnics ; but however long or short may be 
the battle, this novel plan, like all its predecessors, is fore- 
doomed to failure ; and Christianity yet shall laugh over 
a grand " stampede" of devils. 

The author of " Christian Theism" thus remarks : 
" Some Christians have been of opinion that the agency 
of spirits was permitted in former times, and especially 
at the epoch of Redemption, to an extent which has 
since been prohibited by the Divine Will. It has even 
been conjectured that similar manifestations, and perhaps 
a reign of atheism or anti-christ, instigated and led by 
evil spirits, will precede the second advent of the Mes- 
siah." 

This is more than probable ; indeed we think it will be 
the literal fact. There is predicted in 2 Thess. 2d chap., 
a great apostasy to take place in the " latter times," 
when " some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to 
seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.'''' This apos- 
tasy is to be succeeded by an incarnation of the devil, which 
will be the Anti-Christ preeminently, and is to be the 
great culmination of embodied wickedness out of the vari- 



348 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

ous forms of anti-Christianity that had its incipiency in 
apostolic times. One of these, is the concentrated mass 
of iniquity called Popery, whose varied and protracted 
evils and abominations have been so great, as to lead to 
a very extensive belief that Popery is the " falling away," 
and the Pope, (who does not die,) " that man of sin, the 
son of perdition." Many arguments favor this view, but 
that which appears to forbid us to suppose the system of 
Popery to exhaust the idea of Paul, is the fact that the 
"falling away" takes place first, and before the " revela- 
tion of the man of sin ;" whereas the Papacy is insepara- 
ble from the Roman Communion, both alike having 
been for centuries revealed in all the hideousness of moral 
deformity. 

"We think the arguments preponderate for a personal 
Anti-Christ. This does not invalidate the application of 
this term to Romanism, as descriptive of a terrific power 
whose inherent tendency is to produce all the evil whose 
working is to head out, with similar agencies, into the 
incarnation we have spoken of, since Anti-Christ is to be 
considered both as a spiritual tendency diffused in many 
individualities, and the eventual terminus of that ten- 
dency in a single personality. " Demoniac powers," says 
Olshausen, " which we see at work in the history of the 
world, call forth Anti-Christian formations now in this 
shape, now in that, and that too in such a way that 
an augmentation of evil is visibly to be observed." 
Popery is a great promoter of Infidelity, and we think 
the Infidel Anti-Christ in its widely diffusing power 
will be the final result of all human corruption in the for- 
mation of a Man of Sin. 

This would seem to be the true issue of evil in its pre- 
sent development ; for it is to be noted that the term 
apostasy does not refer so much to a corruption as to a 
total abandonment of religion. 



A PEKS0NAL AXTI CHEIST. 349 

Further, the scriptural argument seems to lie altogether 
in this direction. The preposition anti, in composition^ 
denotes not only opposition but similarity ; as in anti- 
type. Thus Anti- Christ not only means the opposer, as 
in 2 Thess. 2:4; and the liar, as in 1 John 2:22; but it 
marks a striking similarity between Christ and Anti-Christ 
for the purpose of deception. Certainly no " false Christ" 
could succeed but by imitation. As there was an apo- 
calypse of Christ, so there will be an apocalypse of Anti- 
Christ ; as there was a fullness of time for the appearance 
of the one, so it remains for the other to " be revealed 
in his time ;" as the one was in his person, the " mystery 
of godliness," so the other, in his person, will be the 
" mystery of iniquity?" 1 The one mystery, was " God 
manifest in the flesh ;" the other will be " the Devil 
manifest in the flesh." 

This is the old interpretation, in which the Fathers all 
agreed. " Let us not," said Jerome, " suppose him, ac- 
cording to the opinion of some, either to be a devil or a 
demon, but one of the human race, in whom all Satan 
shall dwell bodily." His personality, beyond a doubt is 
described by the use of the article in six different titles. 
Faber thinks the last great apostasy is to be of a Socino- 
infidel character, and will be productive of a personal 
head, or leader, the man of sin, the son of perdition, terms 
not likely to be employed in designating either a principle 
of evil, or a united host actuated by it. Olshausen is of 
opinion that " the proof of the individuality of Anti-Christ 
can plainly be wrested from 2 Thes. 2 : 3-10, only by 
forcing its meaning." 

Now it is very clear, that the doctrines of Anti-Christ 
can not be worse than those we have extracted from the 
books of Modern Spiritualism. They deny the incarna- 
nation, the deity, the atonement of Christ. " Who is a 



350 A THKEE-EOLD TEST. 

liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ ? He is 
Anti- Christ that denieth the Father and the Son." (l John 
2 : 22.) These doctrines are the teachings of spirits, and 
distinctly determine their character. They are more or 
less taught in every place where these spirits operate, and 
we are told the movement is rapidly spreading through- 
out the world. If this be true, and if the aforesaid inter- 
pretation be correct, we think there is no agency in the 
world so likely to produce this Man of Sin, as the one we 
are considering. This apostasy ', be it remembered, is not 
a corruption of Christianity, but a total denial of it ; a 
combination of evil principles that have singly prevailed 
in different periods of time ; a new process of infusing 
unwonted energy into all the worn-out forms of infidelity ; 
and an efficient apparatus for the most extensive delusion 
of mankind. 

The descriptive terms of Scripture, used to show the 
modus operandi by which Anti-Christ shall be developed, 
and shall conduct his work, are remarkably applicable to 
the whole of this business. Demons are preparing the 
way for great revolutions, which we are told, must take 
place in the social as well as religious world ; and who 
but they should be an appropriate agency ? How could 
they succeed better, than by playing upon the credulity 
and affections of men, in the assumed character of de- 
parted friends ? How more completely deceive, than by 
the achievement of physical wonders, and pretensions to 
great benevolence ? They must first of all gain credit. 
Now let us look for a moment into this chapter. 

1. Whose coming is after the worJcing of Satan, that 
is, whose presence will be produced by the energy of Sa- 
tan. This will be by his crafty operations as an angel of 
light, so cunningly devised, and skillfully managed as to 
deceive if possible the very elect. Now our Spiritualists 



A PERSONAL ANTI-CHRIST. 351 

are so energetic in their belief, that they will not talk so 
as to imply any possible mistake or any doubt with regard 
to the heavenly origin and design of their " immortal ad- 
visers." " We know," is their language. Their decep- 
tion relates not so much or so ruinously to the fact of 
spirit-agency, as to its nature. We have given the evi- 
dence of the intention of this movement announced from 
the spirit-world by pseudo-Wisheart and others. The 
vast numbers already deluded, really believe that " Satan" 
and "hell-fire" are nonentities, and all the distinctive 
doctrines of Christianity the result of priest-craft, long 
successful by the aid of an old mythologic book whose 
antiquity has favored its high claim and triumphs with 
the unthinking masses, but whose pretensions can not 
stand the test of science and sound reason. Their num. 
ber is augmenting daily, and their leaders are boisterous 
in rejoicing over their unparalleled success on both con- 
tinents, between which the Atlantic bears on its bosom 
the productions of their presses, and the news of " pro- 
gression." The adaptations in the system to consolidate 
the various clans of adversaries are simple and effective. 
Names of gentleman, who are not easily duped, as we are 
told, peril their high reputation upon the truth of the 
newly-opened intercourse' between mortals and their 
dearest friends who have passed into the other world. 
This fact, that many attempts during the past eight years, 
to detect imposture, and to explain the phenomena by 
science have all failed, is presented to thousands of inqui- 
rers, as prima facie evidence of the superior claims of the 
new religion, — a religion that exactly suits all deemed irre- 
ligious by the " popular theology," — a religion that comes 
home to the affections, not by abstract propositions and dry 
dogmas, but by the outpourings of love from kindred and 
friends rejoicing in the beatitudes of their spirit-home, — a 



352 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

religion that positively so lights up with smiles the grim 
visage of death, that it loses all its repulsiveness, — a religion 
that knows nothing of "the blood of the Lamb," nor of 
" the terrors of the Lord," but proves immortal happiness, 
the infallible inheritance of every individual of the race ; 
and a religion to which the term salvation does not be- 
long, since progression covers every case. It plays with 
the imagination, it adapts itself to the carnal views, and 
the modes of thought common to worldly-minded men, it 
places the prize of an advanced starting-point of progression 
hi the spheres, within the competency of every man to pur- 
chase. The thousands that daily congregate at " circles," 
are so fascinated, as to employ their colloquial powers for 
its advancement in every rank of society ; especially is 
this true of females, whose number, won from the Church 
of Christ, is a matter of boast. 

We have shown what are the doctrines of this system, 
as well as the avowed design of uprooting the Church, and 
producing great civil and ecclesiastical changes in the 
world. We have shown that it arrogates to itself the 
name of Christian, persuading us that the popular theo- 
logy is at variance with true Christianity as it was meant 
to be, and claiming Christ as a Spiritualist of their own 
order, and the highest, greatest medium / of whom they 
delight to make the most. reverential mention! All this 
is energetically believed upon what they take to be the 
unmistakable authority of pure and holy spirits, whom 
God has commissioned to reform the world. They do 
not absolutely condemn the Church as she has existed, 
but only the evils that have been developed out of her in 
by-gone ages, and the theology of the present age. She 
has accomplished her mission, and has done a good work; 
but tempora mutantur. She never was designed to last 
for ever, but like all other organizations must yield to the 



WHAT IS PROVED. 353 

demands of human progress. Peace be to her ashes! 
while we inaugurate the Millennium by union of heaven 
and earth through the intervention of Modern Spirit- 
ualism ! This is adapted to universal humanity ! 

Now we defy any mental effort to elaborate a scheme, 
more exactly adapted to develop Anti-Christ ; and in its 
men and measures to exhibit an energy, exactly in keep- 
ing with the character of the Deceiver of the nations. 
He never uses poor tools, while his experience enables 
him to complicate his devices and deceptions, as to escape 
the detection of all who are willing to join in the experi- 
ment of modern Spiritualism. 

2. With all power and signs and lying wonders. The 
Power is in the adaptations of craft. The Signs, are the 
tests, and revelation or exposition of personal secrets, cal- 
culated to excite the imagination, entrance the senses, and 
pervert the judgment. Here is poetry for the stupidest 
intellect, and a charm for the dullest heart. The Lying 
Wonders are such, only in their claims as the credentials 
of high Heaven, presented by good spirits, who teach the 
doctrines we have enumerated, and would persuade the 
world that they are sent from God. 

Spirit Swedenborg has thus given an exposition of 2 
Thess. 2d chap., to the Bible-class above referred to, 
speaking the truth so as to pervert it : 

" The man of sin, there spoken of, is now being revealed 
through these manifestations, as well as the glory of the 
Lord, who shall finally consume the evil and false with 
the spirit of his mouth, and destroy them with the 
brightness of his coining, as the manifestations progress. 
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work ; only he 
who now letteth, will let until he be taken out of the way. 
There may be, therefore, great power, and signs, and ly- 
ing wonders manifested by the spirits of evil; but the 
wisdom, and power, and glory, and truth given by the spir- 



354 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

its commissioned from the Lord, will eventually triumph. 
The spiritual coming of the Lord is now taking place, and 
will continue to grow brighter and brighter as it progresses, 
till the light shall destroy all powers of darkness now be- 
ing revealed both in and out of the body." {Spiritual 
JReasoner, pp. 178, 179.) 

Here then we have high authority for the opinion we 
have formed, mainly on philological grounds. We are 
distinctly told by the Baron himself from the spirit-world 
expounding the meaning of Paul, that the man of sin " is 
now being revealed, through these manifestations." There- 
fore we may look for " great power and signs, and ly- 
ing wonders manifested by the spirits of evil." These 
we have already seen ; but "the wisdom, and power, and 
glory, and truth, given by the spirits" of an opposite na- 
ture, we have not yet seen ; and in connection with this 
movement, never shall see ; for as the same fountain can 
not send forth sweet water and bitter, we can not sup- 
pose that both " the man of sin," and the " glory 
of the Lord" will be revealed by the same instru- 
mentality. "We are certain of the presence of these lying 
wonders, we can not be made certain that any thing spir- 
its have yet done or said, is incompatible with the evil 
agency by which we are assured " the man of sin is now 
being revealed." What then are we to infer ? Plainly 
this, whatever else Spiritualism may pretend to, by the 
authority of S wedenborg, it is now developing Anti-Christ ! 

3. With all deceivableness of unrighteousness. This 
phrase covers every unrighteous fraud like that practised 
upon poor Doughty by a medium now in high repute for 
her powers, and every artifice to ruin the best interests 
of man. 

If facts can prove any thing, we think they prove that 
this descriptive text delineates to the life, the character 



THE ENEMY'S WARNING. 355 

of modern Spiritualism. It is marshalling the forces to 
be eventually under the commander-in-chief, the personal 
Anti-Christ, " whom the Lord, Christ, shall consume with 
the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy with the bright- 
ness of his coming." 

We have no doubt that many will regard our reasoning 
with indifference and skepticism, because they have not 
seen or heard so much of this movement as they think 
will justify it ; but they will have the goodness to credit 
us with an experience gathered from an extensive re- 
search, and from an intercourse with the friends of this 
cause, to which they are professedly strangers. 

This pseudo-gospel " comes not with observation." It 
makes no great popular commotion from any Jupiter 
Tonans, but its progress is silently onward, by its " circles," 
which sit from morning to noon, from noon to night, and 
from night to morning, every day, for the conversion of 
skeptics. It seeks, in the most loving manner, to console 
those who have lost friends, (and who hath not lost a 
friend ?) by bringing them back to assure survivors of 
their happiness, of their sad beguilement, when " in the 
form," by means of priests and popular theology, and of 
their guardianship and affectionate anxiety to win their 
dear friends from popular errors, and induce them to trust 
in the asserted truths of the " New Dispensation." Its 
appeal is directly to the heart. Therefore, be not de- 
ceived. 

We shall now proceed to show, by Dr. Hare's book, 
entitled, " Spiritualism Scientifically Demonstrated," and 
from other sources, that an exterminating war upon 
Christianity is proclaimed. 

We deem it our solemn duty to expose the enemy and 
their aims to the friends of Christianity, by extended 
quotations. Perhaps we may be regarded as helping on 



356 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

their cause by this course, but we can not think so. Sure- 
ly, men are not more endangered by the exposure of 
peril before they run into it. We desire that no part of 
the system or design be unexplained. 

Past experience has shown that so long as the Bible 
continues to command the respect of men as the word of 
God, Christianity is impregnable. Therefore, in the out- 
set, a degradation of the Bible is the first necessary point 
to be gained. The old weapons of warfare are to be used 
with the advantage of a new power at the head of the 
onset, and a new system of tactics. Of this we are dis- 
tinctly informed, and are sagely warned that the old de- 
fenses will avail us nothing in the contest. Thus we are 
told by one of the great oracles of Spiritualism. {Free 
Thoughts, pp. 16, 17.) 

" Hugh Miller, author of ' Footprints of the Creator,' 
who has written as good a plea in behalf of his theologic 
faith as any Churchman could, is fully conscious of the 
ignorance of the clergy. He says : ' The clergy, as a 
class, suffer themselves to linger far in the rear of an 
i?itellige?it and accomplished laity, a full age behind the 
requirements of the time. Let them not shut their eyes 
to the danger which is obviously coming ! The battle of 
the evidences (of Christianity) will have as certainly to be 
fought on the fields of physical science as it was contested 
in the last age on that of the metaphysics. And on this 
new arena the combatants will have to employ new wea- 
pons, which it will be the privilege of the challenger to 
choose. The old, opposed to these, would prove of but 
little avail.' Hence the arguments of Nelson, or Leslie, 
or Paley, or "Watson, can have no weight in the stupend- 
ous battle about to be fought between despotism and 
liberty." 

" Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms, however classic and 
high-sounding — a mere battle of texts — can have no pos- 
sible weight in settling questions which involve the origin 
and veracity of a record which is already in the English 
language, and recommended by the American Bible 



AN ATTACK UPON CHRIST. 357 

Society, in its present translation, as being the infallible 
word of God. The clergy should, feel grateful to us for 
taking the trouble to show them the battle-field of this 
century." 

No doubt the clergy are as grateful for this as for " the 
trouble to show them" the wonders of " Life in the 
Spheres ;" but we think both are acts of supererogation. 
On this "battle-field" they will not be found wanting, and 
are not without good hope of making it as dreary to the 
adversaries of their Lord as the " black sand plane," when 
they come to farm it for a living. 

The Old Testament has always been the arsenal whence 
infidelity has drawn its weapons ; but Christ indorsed it 
as the Scriptures of truth / therefore, an attack is made 
on him, to degrade his person, to deny his claims, and to 
bring his authority and plan of salvation into contempt ! 
To effect this, his divinity is derided and denied, and his 
humanity declared to be the offspring of sin and shame ! 
(Hare's Volume, p. 217.) 

He is declared to have been ignorant of the future 
state ! 

" 764. There is no small degree of contradiction in 
Scripture respecting the locality of heaven. In addressing 
the thief, paradise is identified with heaven by Christ. 
' St. Paul is alleged to have been taken up into paradise^ 
says Harbaugh ; yet, according to the map accompanying 
the work of Josephus, Paradise is represented as being 
upon the river Tigris, near the Persian Gulf. The idea 
given of the abode of Adam and Eve, in Genesis, conveys 
the impression that it was a terrestrial locality." 

" 766. Elijah was carried up to heaven in the sight of 
Elisha. The commandment makes heaven above, the 
earth beneath. Christ was seen ascending by his disci- 
ples, and according to the Apostles' Creed, after descend- 
ing into hell he arose on the third day and ascended into 
heaven. Yet Josephus consigns both heaven and hell to 



358 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

a subterranean region, Ike the Elysian Fields and Erebus 
of the heathen, but places them on each side of a lake of 
everlasting fire. This representation is sanctioned in the 
allusion by Christ to Dives, Lazarus and Abraham ; the 
former, broiling to eternity, requests that Lazarus should 
get a little water, to cool the tip of his tongue. This, 
Abraham declares to be impossible. Hence it appears 
the parties were so near as to converse with each other, 
and for those who were blest to witness the sufferings of 
the damned. Thus, according to Christ, as well as 
Josephus, heaven and hell are in immediate proximity, 
and both must be in the infernal regions." 

" 1273. It has been shown, moreover, that, although 
Christ occasionally referred to hell, yet he gave incon- 
sistent views of it. (738, 764.) At one time, it is fire, 
into which any one is to be doomed for alleging his 
brother a fool, whether this allegation be true or not ; at 
another it is utter darkness, with weeping and gnashing of 
teeth ; and of course there could be no fire. Then the 
disgusting description given by Josejyhus is sanctioned, 
agreeably to which, like the Elysium and Erebus of the 
heathen, both hell and heaven are subterranean localities, 
but separated by a lake of unquenchable fire, across 
which Abraham and Dives converse. At another time, 
heaven is above. He ascends to heaven in sight of his 
apostles, yet the penitent thief is to be with him in para- 
dise, which, agreeably to Genesis and Josephus, is upon 
the earth, on the river Tigris, near, the Persian Gulf. 
But wherever the Elysium and Erebus of the Gospel may 
be, all souls, according to it, are to remain in their graves 
till the ' last day,' and then, like Samuel, being called up 
from their tombs, are to be sorted into two squadrons, 
of which one is to go to an undescribed heaven, the other 
to the ' hell-fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 
from the beginning of the world.' The injustice which 
would follow from a judgment of this kind, by which 
two souls, differing from each other only by a shade, 
would meet a fate so different, that one would have to go 
to heaven, the other to hell, to remain eternally, is so 
manifest, that, like the ultraism of the same record, it loses 
its effect altogether upon people in general. 



AN ATTACK. UPON CHKIST. 359 

" 1274. It must be clear that the great mass of profess- 
ed Christians are very little restrained by their fears of 
such an eternity of punishment. Had Christ any specific 
knowledge of the kingdom of heaven, to which he occa- 
sionally alluded, wherefore did he not convey that know- 
ledge to his disciples ? But they seem to have learned no 
more from Jesus than Moses did from Jehovah, and hence 
their querulous inquiry as to what would be their reward. 
But the promise of judgeships, (743-745,) of worldly 
preeminence, was a satire upon them. It argues that he 
considered them as worldly-minded. Had he known the 
world to be looked upon by the apostles as beneath con- 
sideration in comparison with immortal life, he would 
hardly have insulted them by the offer. But their tone 
has a great deal too much of the Swiss in it. Had they 
been so very dull, or Christ so reserved, that the idea 
was not conveyed to them that, in acting the part of pious, 
virtuous men, they would have the reward promised to the 
righteous in the other world ? 

" Thank God, no Spiritualist who reads with attention 
the communications given in this work, will ever inquire 
as to the extent of selfish reward which he is to enjoy ! 
He would be impressed, by his general knowledge, with 
the idea that the less any being is actuated by selfish as- 
piration, the greater his capacity for happiness and his 
pretensions to the means of felicity," 

This specimen of total badness, is as remarkable for its 
stupidity, as for its ignorant arrogance. Dr. Hare seems 
to have pilfered Tom Paine, and having stolen his thun- 
der, hopes to make it reverberate as his own. It is rather 
difficult to say, of which the author is most worthy, pity 
or contempt. 

The precepts of Christ are declared to be impracticable, 
and the whole system of his religion unphilosophical, un- 
wise, and a failure ! 

"1089. Revelation assumes God to be omnipotent, 
omniscient, prescient, and all good, yet represents him as 



360 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

under the necessity of subjecting his creatures to proba- 
tion, to find out what, by the premises, he must foresee. 
It represents him while wishing his creatures to know him 
and his attributes, as not teaching them that which he 
wishes them to learn, yet punishing them and their pos- 
terity for ignorance arising from his own omission." 

"1099. As respects the precepts of Christ, those on 
which he laid most stress are not only neglected, but 
grossly violated, by the opposite course being sanctioned 
by the overruling sentiment of society. Nothing would 
subject a man to more contempt in Christendom than a 
tame submission to blows, or being so poor as to wear 
patched or ragged clothes. There are few, if any, in 
Christendom, who would not rather have any deficiency 
in attire attributed to accident or taste, than to poverty. 

" 1100. I have shown that the idea which the Pharisees 
entertained of heaven, as portrayed by Josephus, repre- 
senting the wicked like the rich man within sight of the 
good, would be a hell .to a good-hearted angel. This re- 
presentation is sanctioned by Christ in his story of the 
rich man and Lazarus. The only reward promised to his 
apostles was worldly preeminence in the form of judge- 
ships. Hence it were hardly reasonable for those who 
are subordinate in merit to the disciples to expect any 
better remuneration. Hell is as absurdly as horridly 
typified by eternal exposure to interminable fire. 

" 1101. Thus neither among the Jews, nor among 
Christians, has the Bible furnished any adequate account 
of a future state, nor has it been productive of higher 
morality; since the only morality which does exist, is 
coupled not only with the neglect, but with the violation 
of those precepts which the Gospel inculcates." (! ! !) 

" 1111. Now to me it seems that the nominal profession 
of a faith in facts which are absurd and contradictory, 
and professed reverence for precepts which are as utterly 
impracticable as unwise in the abstract, induces this mon- 
strous incompatibility of the actual morality of Christen- 
dom with the professions of Christians and doctrines of 
Christianity." 

"1129. The expectation of washing away sin through 
the merit of a bigoted belief in Christ, cooperating 



MI8BEPKESJETMTATIOX. S61 

with the vague, contradictory, and irrational idea of 
heaven and hell recorded in Scripture, seems to be the 
reason why Christians act so inconsistently with the pre- 
cepts of Him whom they professedly adore. 

" 1130. Nothing can he more inconsistent with the re- 
ligion inculcated by my spirit-friends, than the idea of 
atonement for sin by faith in any religion, true or false. 

" 1131. Had there ever been any available light let in 
from the spirit-world, this error had been denounced, and 
having been thus stamped as erroneous from on high, 
could not have acquired or retained its mischievous hold 
of so many millions of -human beings, by substituting blind 
faith for genuine virtue. 

" 1132. Another reason why, throughout Christendom, 
the vices most deprecated by Christ are those preemi- 
nently prevalent, is, that his precepts were absolutely im- 
practicable, unless explained away in the style of Lord 
Peter in the 'Tale of a Tub?" 

" 1198. The actual morality of Christendom being the 
inverse of that excessive and impracticable restraint 
which Christ enjoined as the object of his mission, must 
prove that his doctrine coxdd not have originated with a 
being by whom its failure must have been foreseen.'''' 

" 1117. Again, the precept to return good for evil, 
would, if acted up to, encourage evil." 

" 1113. It strikes me, from the considerations presented 
under the head of* Mundane Wealth, that the precepts of 
Christ were fundamentally erroneous, so far as they dis- 
credit and discourage efforts for the honest acquisition of 
wealth. (! !) 

" 1114. God has given the fowls of the air feathers as 
a natural clothing, and thus any effort to procure clothing 
on their part is rendered unnecessary ; he has not given 
them hands nor intellectual ingenuity to spin and iceave. 
On the other side, with little exception, man is naturally 
devoid of clothing, and requires clothes to protect him 
from the scorching solar rays or freezing blasts of winter, 
but has been furnished with the hands and the ingenuity 
to spin and iceave. Under these circumstances, was it 
reasonable to allege that man should be governed by the 
example of the feathered creation ? Was it reasonable to 

Ifi 



362 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

infer that there should be no spinning or weaving by 
men, because there neither was nor could be any perform- 
ed by fowls ? (! !) 

"1115. Again, the lily, like all other vegetables, not 
only comes into existence naked, but remains* so, since it 
neither can nor will clothe itself, and would perish if by 
any artificial clothing it were shut out from the influence 
of the solar rays, and from the absorption of carbonic 
acid, which furnishes the vegetable creation with the 
carbon requisite for the fibres essential to stability. Hence 
the allegation that Solomon in all his glory was not clothed 
like the lily, is irreconcilable with the nature and actual 
state of this beautiful flower, which is destitute of clothing 
by nature, and which would perish if it were clothed. 
The skin of vegetable leaves, to a certain extent, performs 
for them what mouths do for animals. How unreasonable, 
then, to argue from one to the other, that man should 
imitate the vegetable ; or to compare a plant, naturally 
and of necessity naked, with a king gorgeously cloth- 
ed? (!!) 

"1116. The degrading a rich man, whether honest or 
not, to the level of a felon or murderer, as respects ac- 
cessibility to heaven, and of course favor in the sight of 
God, is so erroneous, that there never was a precept which 
was less respected in practice, by the votaries of its 
Author." (! ! !) 

" 1328. Meanwhile, the communications which I have 
submitted involve the idea of progression, and convey in- 
finitely more knowledge of futurity than the Old and 
New Testaments taken together." (! ! !) 

" 1094. Praise be to God that he has sent us a new 
way to religious fight, not associated with this detestable 
immorality ! 

Thus Christ and his teachings are disposed of, before 
the " noble scion of a noble man" can get a fair sweep 
at Moses ; and now for harmless fury. 

" 1091. In the Bible, God is represented as susceptible 
of jealousy, of wrath, of authorizing the butchery of three 
thousand Israelites for worshipping a golden calf; sane- 



MISREPRESENTATION. 36S 

tioning the massacre of the whole nation of the Midian- 
ites, with the reservation of the virgins for violation by 
the bloody murderers of their kindred." 

Here is one of the wickedest untruths that malevolence 
could invent ; it is an utter falsification of the record. (See 
Numb. 31:18.) These virgins, the Israelites were per- 
mitted to keep as female slaves, while the existing laws 
against fornication and whoredom were in full force. 
(Deut. 21 : 10-14.) 

" 1120. But I am conscientiously of opinion that the 
respect paid to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, David, 
etc., by which one five hundred-millionth of the blood of 
Abraham is made an honor to Jesus Christ, is among the 
reasons of the low state of morality among those who con- 
sider the Bible as the Word of God, and are thus led to 
view, icith indulgence, prostitution, murder, massacre, 
rape, cheating, and fraud. " (/ / /) 

" 1098. The Old Testament does not impart a know- 
ledge of immortality, without which religion were xoorth- 
less. The notions derived from the Gospel are vague, 
disgusting, inaccurate, and difficult to believe. — The Pen- 
tateuch did not give the Jews an idea of immortality, nor 
were those Jews distinguished for morality, who from 
other sources than the Pentateuch embraced a belief in 
immortality." 

This is contradicted by many writers on Spiritualism, 
who quote largely from Moses, to show the frequency of 
spirit apparitions and communications in his day ; and 
the argument obviously is, that such were the abundance 
of them, that immortality was then as forcibly demon- 
strated to the senses as it could be; and the labored attempt 
at proving it, would have been as foolish as an attempt to 
prove the existence of God. In arguing with the Sad- 
ducees, to prove the doctrine of immortality. Christ drew 
his evidence from the Pentateuch. (Mat. 22 : 32.) 



364 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

" 1140. But wherefore should such implicit confidence 
be placed in language alleged to have been held by Moses 
or any other ancient author ? or should they be credited, 
even when they allege God to have used such words as 
these, " Let me wax hot in my wrath that I may consume 
them'''' ? The motive for this imputation against God, was 
that Moses might take credit for moderation in slaugh- 
tering only three thousand of God's chosen people in one 
day, for worshipping a golden calf, made by his own 
brother, afterward made high-priest. Thus the ringleader 
being the brother of Moses, was loaded with honors, 
while those whom he led astray were to be massacred in 
cold blood. Yet it is on such witnesses as this blood- 
thirsty, blasphemous bigot, that orthodoxy relies for 
assuming the Pentateuch to be the word of God, censur- 
ing, if not persecuting, all who do not concur with it." 

According to the teaching of these Spirits, the Sabbath- 
day is to be desecrated and annulled. 

" Fortunately the doctrines, since taught by the spirits, 
entirely corroborate the suggestions of this essay ; so that 
Spiritualism, natural religion, and literature, may here- 
after go hand in hand on Sunday. 

" 1236. This now gloomy day may, through the happy 
united instrumentality suggested, become a day of real 
intellectual improvement, as well as of every species of 
variety of innocent recreation. Yet every species of self- 
ish sensual pleasure will be avoided and condemned by 
every conscientious believer in spiritual manifestations. 

" 1237. It is suggested that persons opposed to Sabba- 
tarianism, inconsistent with the early and long-continued 
practice of Christianity, and with the freedom of conscience 
guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, 
should unite to render Sunday (erroneously called the 
Sabbath) a day of moral, literary, and scientific instruc- 
tion, for those who, dissatisfied with the sectarianism of the 
existing places of worship, pass the day without edifying 
occupation." 



MISREPRESENTATION. 305 

No doubt we shall soon have a vigorous effort made to 
abrogate all laws touching this Christian Institution. 

The falsehood and ignorance displayed in the follow- 
ing, will show that the head and the heart of this apostle 
of Spiritualism are equally hi a pitiable condition. 

"1277. Christ fully justified this opinion, when he 
alleged himself to have come as a sword, not as a messen- 
ger of peace, and to set father and son, mother and 
daughter, etc., at variance with each other, making the 
people of a man's own household his foes. It may be 
said that he identified himself with piety and rectitude ; 
so that it was for the virtue of which he, as the Son or 
missionary of God, was the representative, that he plead; 
but this inous devotion has much more of self in it than 
people imagine. They identify God or Christ with the 
welfare of their souls and bodies. It is through the hope 
of benefit to these that they take such a deep interest in 
God. 

" 1278. But is it not strange that the Christian religion 
should be treated as a harbinger of peace and harmony 
when, with its entrance into the world, came the intoler- 
ance, before confined to Judea, and when by its founder 
it is represented as a sword, to sever the dearest ties by 
introducing the poisoning idea that belief could be a 
virtue or a sin ? It seems to have been the cause of a 
peculiar animosity which has always accompanied its pro- 
gress, if not its endurance, and which set the example to 
Mohammed of attaching the same fanatical idea to an- 
other basis, comporting with his individual aggrandize- 
ment, at the expense of much human misery. 

" 1279. The language of Christ held to his apostles, 
showing that he considered them as thirsting for temporal 
honors, and his aspiration for the throne of his glory, 
situated, of course, in the same mundane region, may 
warrant the surmise that his views did not differ from 
those of Mohammed as to the ultimate object, however 
much he may have found it necessary, under the Roman 
despotism, to fight with the tongue instead of the 
sword. 



366 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

" 1280. But how can this sentiment he justified in which 
he makes devotion to himself irreconcilable with the holy 
ties between the child and his parents, or the parents and 
their children? The God of Spiritualism would view 
parental and filial love as the truest piety. He asks only 
that love. He has not constituted us to have that sort of 
love for him. Had he wished it, he would have made us 
so, as to he thus actuated. 

"1281. 'He that believeth in me shall have eternal 
life.' ' Thy faith hath made thee whole.' These allega- 
tions produced a change in the world at large. That 
bigotry and animosity which led the Jews to consider 
that all who did not agree with them in creed, were ob- 
jects of spoliation, massacre, rape, enslavement, were now 
extended to other parts of the world." 

" 1387. But among the calumnies to which I have al- 
luded, are those which represent the human heart as in- 
nately wicked, and only to be corrected by religious re- 
generation. All the souls created since Adam ate the 
apple, must be born anew, thus drawing a marked dis- 
tinction between those who have gone through this second 
birth, and such as myself, who have not undergone this 
recuperative process. But what man of common-sense 
draws a line between those who are thought to have been 
born over again, and those who have not ? The great 
majority of those who call themselves Christians, do not 
put any more trust in one who has gone through this 
second birth, than in one who is not deemed to have been 
thus regenerated." 

" 1285. But the spiritual manifestations, and the intel- 
lectual, the heart-felt intercommunion with my relatives, 
friends, and the immortal, great, and good Washington, 
now enable me to assert that there is not, nor can be upon 
any record of the past, any evidence so complete as that 
presented to my senses, concurrently with a multitude of 
observers. I now, therefore, feel myself warranted to 
speak out what my reason justifies and my conscience dic- 
tates ; and have not hesitated to express the opinions 
which are spread out upon the pages immediately pre- 
ceding that which contains this exposition." (! ! !) 



MISREPRESENTATION. 36V 

Dr. Hare has written sixty-six octavo pages on " the 
influence of Scripture on the morals of Christians," full 
of gross blasphemy, impiety, base insinuations, and abuse ; 
and all this, according to the last quotation, he feels 
" warranted to speak out," by the promptings of "his im- 
mortal advisers," including the " great and good "Wash- 
ington," who, be it remembered, was a Bible Christ- 
ian. 

It is a pity that this " member of various learned so- 
cieties," forgot to record another saying of Christ: 
"Those things which proceed out of the mouth come 
forth from the heart, and they defile the man." But per- 
haps the omission was designed, as an unfavorable in- 
ference against himself might have been suggested. 

The question now may fairly be asked : Who is this 
paragon of virtue, that the spirits have chosen and auth- 
orized to utter such calumnies against God and man? 
Dear reader, according to his own account, a Duellist, 
who either did, or would have imbrued his hands in hu- 
man blood ! Here is the evidence. 



" 884. Again, I wish the circumstance I am about to 
mention to be explained by psychology : I was sitting in 
my solitary third-story room at Cape Island, invoking 
my sister, as usual, when to my surprise I saw Cadwal- 
lader spelt out on my disk. 'My old friend, Gen- 
eral Cadwallader ?' said I. ' Yes.' A communica- 
tion ensued of much interest. But before conclud- 
ing, I requested him, as a test, to give me the name 
of a person whom I met in an affair of honor more than 
fifty years ago, when he {General Cadwallader) was my 
second. The name was forthwith given, by the pointing 
out on the disk the letters requisite to spell it." (P. 171.) 

This is our lecturer on the " Influences of the Scriptures 
on the morals of Christians" ! ! The quotations we have 



368 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

made, prove him to have "progressed" some. Now, 
if the spirit of a man may be ascertained by that which 
comes through his mouth from his heart, and if 
" malice aforethought" in law, is esteemed the core of a 
capital crime, then it will be seen that our apostle has 
somewhat " progressed" since the " affair of honor." The 
spirits, we opine, have unwittingly let out their own 
character by their choice of Mediurnship in this instance. 

In his chapter on the "Moral Influence of Spiritualism," 
after disgorging upon Christianity, he obtains relief in 
this culminating paragraph : 

" 737. Spiritualism has the merit preeminently not 
only of furnishing a knowledge of immortality beyond the 
grave, but a precise knowledge of the spirit-world in 
hen of the silence of the Pentateuch, and the vagueness 
and inconsistency of the Gospel." 

Our author is a living commentary upon this part of 
his work. He has tried hard to brain Christianity, but 
has only mauled the head of poor Lindley Murray. The 
bitterness of his talk is an unfortunate (may-be, fortunate) 
exposition of the character of his "familiar spirits." We 
think all considerate men will accept this as a test, far 
more certain for discovery, than his " spiritoscope" for the 
pi'oof of the goodness of his "immortal advisers." 

Mr. Capron says in a quotation, p. 308: "The revela- 
tions through the mediums vary somewhat, yet all are 
of a radical character. They teach the overthrow of 
existing church organizations, and say that vital changes 
must be made in the social and commercial xoorldP 

Oracle Davis says, (Free Thoughts, p. 15 :) "We mean 
to drive the plough-share deep into the soil of popular 
theology and into the origin of those texts which priests 
hurl at the movements of every true reformer." 



THE DESIGN OF SPIRITUALISM. 369 

The harmony, unity, sympathy, and participation of 
the same spirit, upon which, in all " communications," 
there is so much hortatory matter, are the supposed 
qualities necessary to give completeness of effect to a 
vigorous "warfare. Their doctrines, practices, aims, and 
end we have laid hare. They mean to combine their own, 
with the agency of spirits, to subvert Christianity. They 
mean to destroy, if possible, the Church. They mean to 
subvert the influence of the Bible. They mean to inaugur- 
ate the vile sentiments of Tom Paine, his compeers and 
pilferers, as the only true principles compatible with the 
" rights of man." They mean to effect radical changes 
in the social and commercial world. 

Fourierism and free-love will accomplish in the social 
system what the " doctrines of demons" will do in the 
religious, and thus revolution is to upheave the very 
foundation of the existing order of things ! 

A correspondent of the New-England Spiritualist, 
writing from Albion, Mich, May 5, 1855, says : 

" Our cause has prospered finely in this place for the 
last year. We now have regular preaching through Mrs. 
Sprague, of Bellevue, twice on Sundays and once on 
Thursday evening of each week. Our numbers have in- 
creased within the last year from about a dozen to from 
three to five hundred believers, and the ranks are swell- 
ing daily. We now have most of the different phases of 
the phenomena. Mediums are increasing in numbers and 
improving in development all around us. We have had 
a strong opposition from the churches (as a matter of 
course) and their hold has been strong on the public mind 
till within a short time past. It has recently very much 
diminished. The Methodist State Theological Seminary 
is located in this place, with its dozen ministers and more 
in making. But their ranks are weakening. Several of 
their strongest supporters have bolted and come over to 
the Spiritualist ranks, and many more wavering and in- 

1d* 



370 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

quiring the way. I would state as a proof of progress, 
that the Baptist and Episcopal churches are closed for 
want of a support ; and a few weeks since the Presbyterian 
minister had a sudden call to leave, on two weeks' notice, 
and remove to Connecticut, and the society are left to 
the mercy of the elements, with their house also closed — 
probably no more to be opened as an orthodox church. 
The Methodists have been straining every nerve to sus- 
tain themselves, but their minister was heard to tell one 
of his members that if the Spiritualists' meetings were 
kept up in the Hall, by that woman, three months longer, 
they would have to close up their church for want of 
hearers ! This last winter they had a protracted meeting 
for about a week, every night. When the evening came 
for Mrs. Sprague to speak in the Hall, it was crowded to 
overflowing, and many went away for want of room to 
stand. Some of them went over to the protracted meet- 
ing at the Methodist house, and on their arrival there 
found only fourteen besides the minister, who was trying 
to rally them to battle against the common enemy. * * 
Light is springing up, and the dark forms of formal wor- 
ship are fast passing away. Many minds that have hired 
their thinking done for them, are now trying to reason 
for the first time for themselves ; hence then- progres- 
sion. 

" Yours for the promulgation of the Harmonial Philo- 
sophy. Elmer Woodruff." 

A correspondent to the Telegraph, when writing an 
account of a pic-nic near Boston in 1854, says: "The 
second speaker was J. S. Loveland, who at present pre- 
sides over the Charlestown Society as a speaker. Mr. L. 
was formerly a Methodist Episcopal clergyman of good 
standing, but having had his eyes open to the glorious 
truths of modern Spiritualism, he at once buckled on his 
armor and came out boldly into the great battle-jield of 
progress to fight the hosts of old theology.'''' 

Mr. Davis, in his " Review of Bushnell," holds the fol- 
lowing language : 



THE DESIGN OF SPIRITUALISM. 3*71 

" The thunders of a stupendous reformation are soon 
to issue from the now open mouth of the Protestant 
Church. The supernatural faith." that is, a belief in the 
authenticity of the Scriptures, " whl be shaken, as a reed 
in the tempest. New channels will be formed for the in- 
flowing of new truths, and then a long-promised era will 
steal upon the religious and political world. You may- 
be assured of the truth of this approaching crisis. The 
world must recognize it, because it will be accompanied 
with war ; for politics are inseparably connected all over 
the world, with religious systems. Religion will develop 
reason ; but politics will impel the masses to unsheathe the 
sword, and to stain the bosom of nature with blood! 
Friends of progress, be not discouraged, for the Final 
Crisis must come ; then the strange interregnum. Pro- 
testantism as now constructed will first decay ; because it 
is to be divided into two — the smallest party will 
go back into Catholicism ; the other will go forward 
into rationalism. And then, after a succession of 
eventful years, a political revolution will hurl the Catho- 
lic superstructure to the earth, and the pristine bow of 
promise will span the heavens. The children of earth will 
then be comparatively free and happy ! for the millennial 
epoch will have arrived; and there will be something 
like a realization of peace on earth and good-will toward 
men." 



Let it be remembered, these sentiments are expressed 
by the promptings of the Spirits, and this threatened war- 
fare which is to desolate the land until Protestantism and 
Christianity in every outward form is extirpated, is de- 
clared to be certain by Spirits, who exhort their votaries 
not to be discouraged, for this "Festal Crisis must 
come." 

Thus the elements of war are gathering, and the host 
of Spiritualists are preparing by the drilling of devils, to 
be the active soldiery in plunging their country into the 
horrors of a bloody conflict. 



372 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

What are we to think of this ? How should we regard 
men who can commit themselves to a system encourag- 
ing treason, persecution, and anarchy ? 

Thus we are given to understand that war is proclaimed 
upon every institution, religious and civil, with which we 
are accustomed to associate our ideas of all that is valuable 
to humanity. This avowed design we hold to he, to the 
intuition of every reasonable man, as diabolical in its con- 
ception as it would be in its execution. It bears upon the 
face of it the impress of all evil. The monstrous issues 
involved are so transparently damnable, that modern 
Spiritualism could not have met with such extensive favor 
without the agency of the Devil, who " goeth about as a 
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Men are 
depraved enough, without restraining grace, to accomplish 
vast evil in every walk of life ; but bad as they may be 
in and of themselves, we do not think that the idea of 
associating themselves with spirits for such extensive 
operations could have originated in a human brain. It 
came from hell ; it could come from no other place. We 
defy any man to think of any possible evil that may not 
grow out of this movement, provided it be successful. An 
extensive course of reading, large samples of which we 
have given to justify our opinion, has convinced us that 
the inevitable necessary results of the prevalence of this 
system, if realized, would be perdition to our race in this 
world, as well as in that which is to come. The origin- 
ality of the plan, moreover, is so entirely beyond what 
human intellect would naturally contrive, that it bears 
with it the evidence of its extra-mundane source. We 
believe the primary movers to be the Devil and his 
angels. 

Far be it from us to denounce those engaged in this 
horrible cause as "sinners above others." They are not. 



STRENGTH OF TUB DELUSION. 373 

We find associated with it, men and women whose repu- 
tation, influence, and social worth, have long entitled them 
to respect as good citizens. But they have been grossly- 
deceived ; and their selection for this work is in keeping 
with the known craft of the Devil. He never chooses incom. 
petent agents, and in order to avail himself of their services, 
he must contrive to deceive them. And what plan so effect- 
ual as that in which his spirit agents should " steal the 
livery of heaven," and, with the language of sweet affection, 
personating departed friends, give such astonishing small 
tests as should beguile them ? We do not believe that 
ladies and gentlemen, now deeply in this business, would 
suffer their names to be emblazoned to the world, as its 
advocates, did they believe a tithe of our representations. 
Hence we have been careful to give copious proof from 
what the spirits actually say and do, in justification of our 
language, which otherwise would have seemed unwar- 
rantably strong. And here let it be observed, that we 
have not taken the language of " low, unprogressed 
spirits," but have confined ourselves to the " revelations" 
of such as have been accepted as belonging to the higher 
spheres. These persons have seen and been conversant 
with the wonders they relate. They are not deceivers in 
this respect. So wide-spread, in our own country and in 
Europe, have been these manifestations, that the idea of 
collusion is simply absurd. They are earnest and ener- 
getic in their assertions and belief. They are honest in 
their relation of such facts and language as they rightfully 
attribute to evil spirits. They do not mean to deceive 
their fellow-men. They admit that there are deceivers 
among them, whose impostures they denounce as readily 
as the best can do. But all this only helps on the mis- 
chief; for who does not see that the occasional manifesta- 
tion of diabolism is necessary to the success of the gen- 
eral imposture ? 



374 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Persuaded that they are able to detect evil spirits, they 
are confirmed in the belief of, and surrender themselves 
to the guidance of " guardian angels," who say any quan- 
tity of pretty and taking things, and moreover accom- 
plish some smaU matters of momentary good, and some 
things that will impress mortals with the idea of their 
benevolent nature, so as to fasten their victims more 
securely in infernal snares. All this is perfectly compati- 
ble with devilish agency, and very necessary to its suc- 
cess. There is nothing which Satan wishes more to im- 
press upon the human mind than the belief of his own 
nonentity. He is well pleased with the utmost ridicule 
that can be heaped upon the idea of a personal Devil. It 
is necessary to his complete success. 

This war proclaimed upon Christianity, we presume, 
will be carried on. In the case of Mormonism, we have 
seen what has grown out of pure absurdity. Therefore 
we have no assurance against a worse evil, in the good sense 
of men, when they suffer themselves to be rifled of it by a 
system like this. We are only anxious to uncover the 
enemy, and unmask his batteries. The forewarned will, 
we trust, be forearmed. 



CHAPTER X. 

AW ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 

Gentlemen Spiritualists : Having deliberately abjur- 
ed Christianity and fellowship with its adherents, you 
would not probably esteem it a compliment were we to 
salute you by the usual term of fraternal address, com- 
mon among your former associates. To avoid offense, 
we therefore address you by the distinctive name you 
have adopted in your choice of a new religion whose 
nature and claims we have been at some pains to investi- 
gate. 

Your former connection with Christianity, and our 
own experience and honest convictions recorded in the 
previous pages, we think will justify us in the use of a 
few parting words of truth and soberness, designed for 
you, in the hope that you will consent to review the 
ground you have trodden in your exodus to the promised 
land of Spiritualism. The writer belongs to a class, with 
whose motives, design, and general character, your 
authors are accustomed to deal very rudely. He men- 
tions this, not as a reason for retaliation, but as a consider- 
ation which, in your esteem, he thinks, ought to excuse 
the liberty he takes to speak plainly, on a subject of im- 
measurable importance to all men; and as they claim 



375 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

the right to animadvert upon our principles and practices, 
it surely will not be considered out of place here to ex- 
pose the sophistry and folly of the belief which they think 
justifies their course. 

It is a matter of boast with your leaders, that a large 
number of professing Christians, both of the ministry and 
laity, have abandoned the Church and are now rejoicing 
in their deliverance from the bondage of creeds and con- 
fessions, and the reigning power of popular theology. 
We have no reason to doubt the fact, because it is in ac- 
cordance with the predictions of the New Testament. 
If you will take the trouble to reopen that book you have 
cast down from the high position it once professedly oc- 
cupied in your esteem, you will find it recorded, that an 
extensive falling away from the Church of professed ad- 
herents, should take place, by means of seducing spirits: 
see 2 Thess. 2 : 3-12 ; 1 Tim. 4 : 1 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 3 ; 1 John 
2 : 19; Jude 18, 19. 

This is a very remarkable fact, verified in your 
own history ; and the recent movement in which you 
have taken a conspicuous part is one of those fulfillments 
of prophecy which, in our judgment, go far to vindi- 
cate the high claim of that book to the faith of all reason- 
able men. 

In our reading, we have met with the names of many 
ZTniversalist, and of some Unitarian ministers who have 
become Spiritualists, and now go about seeking whom 
they may persuade. But as these did not belong to the 
Church of Christ, any more than they do now, they had 
nothing of any moment to part with in making the 
change ; and can not in fairness be claimed as converts 
from our communion. We have also met with the fact 
that several Methodist, and other clergymen of the Armi- 
nian type of the Christian faith have fallen away ; but 
wc have not seen an instance of a sound Calvinistic divine 



AN ADDKESS TO RECREANT ' CHRISTIANS. 377 

riven from his mooring upon the Rock, and driven into 
this stygian whirpool which has been recently formed 
in the troubled waters of human opinion. Our Umited 
observation among the deluded laity leads us to think that 
few, if any of them, had entertained Calvinistic views of 
divine truth, previous to their slumping in the slush of an 
effete heathenism where our modern adventurers are now 
found plunging, led on, as they think, by spirits sent 
from God to guide them into the right path. We men- 
tion this by the way simply to show the practical value 
of Calvinism in affording well-tried general principles for 
the protection of both heart and life from those fatal 
errors to which we have already referred : but let that 
pass. 

We admit the fact that " you are many," who have 
relinquished your former faith, and have adopted in its 
stead, a necromantic system which is, as we have shown, 
essential heathenism. We would not venture this asser- 
tion, had we not first succeeded jx producing a large 
amount of evidence corroborative of our position — evi- 
dence with which the most of you, perhaps all, are unac- 
quainted, and the previous knowledge of which would 
probably have caused you to pause before assuming the 
attitude you now glory in before the world. 

We fain would hope that the whole matter will now 
loom up before you in a new aspect, and that reflection 
may lead you to consider the danger into which you 
have been led ; though we must confess that hope to be 
very small, because the fascination which has' charmed 
you into the coils of the serpent is strong in itself, and 
fortified by that pride of opinion to which generous re- 
traction is more repugnant than reputed perseverance in 
error ; and because " there is a sin unto death." Had 
you been seduced into some false step, which could be 



378 A TIIKEE-FOLD TEST. 

shown disastrous to your happiness and your earthly 
hopes, you would ultirnatedly have been grateful for any 
effort made to induce you to correct it. In the present 
instance, we think, interests far dearer than earthly ones 
can possibly be, are hi imminent peril ; and an honest ef- 
fort to reveal to you the danger we speak of, should be 
generously treated, and shield the one that makes it from 
every imputation of unworthy motive, and from the ab- 
surd charge of a bigot's zeal. 

You have, no doubt, been led to embrace the doctrines 
of Spiritualism, because you have been sorely puzzled by 
certain " manifestations" wonderful and, if you please, 
superhuman, and supposed to be altogether new. Be- 
cause you could not otherwise account for them, you 
have supposed that the roundabout assertions of Spiritual- 
ists must be accepted as true, attributing them all to the 
agency of your departed friends and other human spirits, 
who by this newly-discovered method of telegraphing 
from their spirit-home, seek to console us respecting their 
own condition, and to improve ours, by emancipating us 
from the shackles of the Christian faith, and by animating 
vis with the prospect of supernal gardens, far superior to 
that of " the fabled Adam ;" and of glorious bowers of 
ease where you, and all others, may sing, and dance, and 
play, and ride, and roam; where your delightful labor 
may be very sensibly expended in driving a saw-mill, if 
you please, in the spheres, just like that described by the 
Judge ; and where you may enjoy refreshing draughts of 
ambrosial buttermilk from just such an ample spiritual 
chum as he saw in that spiritually comfortable home of 
which he discourseth, where every thing fitting, is well 
arranged and most befitting spiritual house-keeping ; and 
where all things are just as they are here, only more so ! 
You have preferred the poetry of this intensely imagina- 



AN ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 379 

tive state of things in the future world, Ibased upon the 
primary ideas of a gross and sensuous experience in this, 
to the sober prose of Gospel fact, of which we believe we 
can form no just conception, for reasons already given. 
AU this, and much more of the same sort, you receive as 
the communications of good spirits, whom we have con- 
victed of the grossest absurdity, and whose didactic 
teachings are much worse than their descriptive "pen 
and ink sketches" by the hands of your writing media. 

The new facts of your chosen " religion," we have 
shown to be the old fictions of a worn-out superstition of 
a barbarous age revamped, and dressed up to suit the 
times ; and the doctrines taught, we have shown to be 
the concentrated elixir of delusion drawn from various 
mythologies of heathen folly. We have honestly follow- 
ed the direction of your leaders under the most solemn 
pledge that we should gain a perfect assurance of the 
most consolatory facts and truths that ever fell upon 
human ears, if we would only consent to investigate. 
We have been complained of as unfair and unwise for 
not adopting the course which has led great and distin- 
guished men of all classes to the enjoyment of a happi- 
ness which gilds this life with the glories of a new revela- 
tion, confirmatory of the old, and withal corrective of 
many modern errors. We have been challenged in terms 
of the most vigorous phraseology, and our tardiness to 
accept, has been attributed to the unworthy motives of 
cowardice and bigotry. We have satisfied the demand 
made. The results of our investigation are now before 
you, and we hope none can complain of our lack of 
thoroughness. We have consulted and "tried the spirits," 
and found them to be liars. We have aUowed your 
leaders to tell their own story, to speak in copious extract 
from their own books; and our readers now know what 



3S0 A THKEE-FOLD TEST. 

Spiritualism is, in all its capabilities to befool the intellect 
and to destroy the soul. Now let us reason upon the 
matter. 

You take it for granted, that the spiritualistic theory 
of the agency of your departed friends must be true, be- 
cause it seems to be the only way of accounting for the 
■wonderful facts by which you have been confounded in 
all your attempts to reach an adequate cause, this side of 
the spirit- world. This is jour first error. 

Although we accept the facts, and also the theory of 
spirit-agency, we do not grant that the true cause of these 
manifestations is the agency of your departed friends, 
or of any human spirits ; and we have shown that you 
can not prove it ; nay, that you have no finn ground at 
all upon which you can support your supposition. For it 
is evident, from the admissions already quoted, that the 
manifestations through ancient media of heathen notoriety, 
are accepted as of coordinate authority with those of 
your modern movement ; and of course, ancient authors, 
who have recorded more wonderful things than any that 
you can boast of, and have pursued the subject to a greater 
extent, and for a much longer time, and with greater ad- 
vantages than your authors can pretend to, must also be 
accepted as faithful scribes, and profound philosophers, 
and authoritative sources, whence we may derive facts and 
statements and doctrines, as true and as useful as any or 
all of the contents of all the books of all the authors on 
Modern Spiritualism. Take, for instance, Porphyry; a 
man of irreproachable life according to the moral standard 
of his day. He says, that " there are some who suppose, 
that there is a certain obedient genus of demons, which 
is naturally fraudulent, omniform, and various, and which 
assumes the appearance of the gods and demons, and the 
souls of the deceased; and that through these, every thing 



AN ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 381 

which appears to be either good or evil is affected." Now 
consider the answer to this, by the " divine lamblichus," 
whose heathen piety and acknowledged learning secured 
for him the respect of the age hi which he lived. He 
admits the fact, but contends that the difference between 
good and bad spirits, is discoverable by the difference of 
the light by which they were surrounded ! He admits the 
existence and operation of " evil demons, who assume the 
appearance of gods and good demons, an abundant evil- 
producing tribe." " An evil demon requires that his wor- 
shipper should be just, because he assumes the appearance 
of one belonging to the divine genus ; but he is subserv- 
ient to what is unjust, because he is depraved." Add to 
this the admissions of your modern writers, and then say, 
where is the evidence that personating evil spirits are not 
the authors of a well-contrived, and successful system of 
imposture in which you are inveigled ? Nothing less than 
moral certainty here, will do ; but by their own showing, 
Spiritualists can not prove that they are not deceived. 
In such a position, what consequents may ensue of an evil 
nature to you, in the future world, none can know. In- 
deed, it may be a fearful fact, that you shaU hear the 
very words that Christ says shall be addressed to the 
wicked — "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared 
for the Devil and his angels." Your terrible uncertainty 
must, in all reason, prevent the derisive smile, for at the 
worst, you will admit Christ to have been incapable of 
deception. Here we shall be reminded that you deny the 
existence of the devil and his angels, and of hell, upon the 
authority of spirits ; but do you not see that your denial 
amounts to nothing ? And why ? Because you admit 
the existence and agency of evil spirits ; because such 
spirits personate the souls of the departed ; because " it is 
their nature to lie ;" and therefore they contradict the 



382 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

words of Christ. You assume what you can not prove, 
and that too, in a matter of the most momentous concern. 
This is your second error. 

Now how do you know that these very evil spirits do 
not assume the names of your friends, and practise upon 
your credulity ? Hoav can you determine that they are 
not the very beings whose existence they deny, and whose 
good talk is craftily designed to obtain your confidence ? 
How do you know that the manifestations ascribed to 
your friends, are not within the competency of their 
power, and actually produced by them for the very pur- 
pose of peopling their own dark domain with your de- 
luded sjmits? Here you have no certainty at all, where 
you most need it. For if the facts of eternity be as the 
Bible describes them, (and you can not show the contra- 
ry,) as you confessedly reject the method of salvation by 
Christ, you can not but see that your epitaph is already 
written, " He that believeth not, shall be damned." 
However unwelcome, and perhaps offensive, you can not 
evade this ; and certainly honesty with your own souls 
demands that you should not evade, but meet it face to 
face. If Christ was justified in exclaiming upon the sin- 
ners of his day, " How can ye escape the damnation of 
hell ?" what would he have said to those who embrace 
such a horrible system as Modern Spiritualism is proved 
to be in the foregoing pages ? Now do not think to 
elude the subject by retorting : " Where is your certainty 
of salvation ?" We stand on different grounds. If the 
Bible be false, and the Devil a myth, and hell a fable, we 
shall not be the worse off for our belief in the atonement 
of Christ, according to authority ; but shall progress in 
the spheres as well, as fast, and as far as you ; but if 
Spiritualism be a delusion, and Christ be true, then your 
unending portion is " weeping and wailing, and gnashing 



AN ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 383 

of teeth," in a torment whose " smoke ascendeth for ever 
and ever." This descriptive phraseology sufficiently por- 
trays a horrible fact to be realized in your future history. 
Now do not mistake ; toe do not denounce, nor anathe- 
matize ; we only make the naked statements of revealed 
facts hypothetically laid down, just to show the absolute 
necessity of an absolute certainty on your part, of the 
truthfulness of the spirits, to whose guidance you have 
committed your souls. The words of the Saviour are not 
our words, the character of despisers and rejecters of the 
Gospel we have not drawn, the award of rejection from 
God we have not made. We simply submit what must 
be fearful fact, upon the supposition that Christ was no 
impostor, but spoke the truth. You once professed to 
believe this, you now cast it away as the delusions of 
" popular theology." We show you your safety in the 
faith of Christ, even admitting that to be a delusion ; and 
we show you your awful danger in the system of Spirit- 
ualism, admitting that to be a delusion ; and the proba- 
bilities of the latter are as a million to one. You will 
doubtless be instructed to put down all our impertinent 
words to the detestable canting of a priest, who one day 
must pour out spiritual sweat for this, on the Judge's black 
sand plane ; but common sense will secretly tell you, for 
aU that — " Better inquire about this matter of certainty." 
Who could stand the derision of devils, for behig such a 
fool as to swallow an undiluted He ? 

Now we fancy, that no additional evidence could aug- 
ment the certainty of the conclusion to which we have 
come in this matter. We have let Spiritualists state their 
own facts and doctrines, visions, wonders, and woi'ks in 
their own language ; and we have shown that if the De- 
vil and aU his legions should resolve their infernal con- 
clave into a committee of the whole, to combine all their 



884 A THBEE-FOLD TEST. 

powers of thought and pandemonic skill to contrive the 
subtlest scheme by which to beguile mankind, they could 
do nothing more, and would do nothing less than imitate 
the mode which God adopted to reveal his will to men. 
Necromancy, from first to last, has been their trusty de- 
lusion ; and in trusting to that, you are led captive by Sa- 
tan at his will. "We, having been challenged, may cer- 
tainly now challenge you to show the contrary ; reminding 
you, with your permission, that it will not do to take for 
granted the thing to be proved. You admit that there 
are evil spirits. "We assert, upon the best of authority, 
that the j personate the good / and we have convicted 
those accepted as good, of contradictions and absurdities 
of which they could not be guilty, were they truly the 
spirits they claim to be. Dr. Hare, as we have shown, 
sends us to Judge Edmonds's work on Spiritualism, for 
the loftiest communications to be found ; yet he says : 

" Whatever want of ability may be shown, by Dr. 
Bell, to exist hi the communications alleged to come from 
Paine, Swedenborg, and Bacon, or from spirits personat- 
ing those distinguished men, it can not do away the valu- 
able information which I have obtained from my spirit- 
father and others, sanctioned by a convocation of spirits. 
It has been shown that in a few pages of that communica- 
tion, there is vastly more knowledge of our happy pros- 
pects m the future world, than all that can be found in 
the Scriptures." (Spiritualism Dem., p 169.) 

This certainly is very cool. You may search his book 
and you will not find a single test applied to ascertain 
whether his father and this convocation of good spirits 
were personated or not. He seems so delighted with the 
great commission of his apostleship, given by Washington 
and other great men, that his strong emotions make him 



AN ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 385 

melt away entirely, and he seems never to have thought 
that one who is so mighty in confounding Christians, and 
showing off the fallacies of the Scriptures, stood hi any 
danger of being himself made the game of personating 
spirits. 

The following is a most ludicrous specimen of pathos 
and egotism : 

" In this, my first interview," (with Washington,) " I 
premised that I wished to let him know that I had al- 
ways been one of his most devoted political advocates, 
having always styled myself a Washington Federalist, 
and that I had as early as 1812 embodied my sentiments 
in some verses. He said he was aware that such verses 
were written by me, but would wish me to repeat them. 
I obeyed his request." 

Then comes the veriest prose done in rhyme, the last 
three verses of which we give. It is followed by spirit- 
ual emotional tenderness, too great for laughter to with- 
stand : 

" Best and wisest of men ! when counselled by thee, 
Could thy people their treasure withold ? 
"When ruled by another, then could they agree 
To lavish their millions untold? 

" By Genet insulted, by slander aggrieved, 
If thy wrongs unrevenged could remain, 
For denouncing the men whom false he believed, 
By a mob could thy Lingan be slain ? 

" Can the voice of the country for whom he had bled, 
E'er sanction a murder so base, 
Or the tear-drops of millions piously shed, 
The deep stain from our annals efface?" 

" As soon as the last words of the preceding verses 
were recited, I was thrilled by the following effusion : 
" My friend: How my heart swells with grateful emo- 



386 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

tion, at hearing that beautiful effusion from your lips ! 
Yes, my friend, I strove while on earth, to carry out the 
impressions which were made on my mind by superior in- 
telligences, and if I failed, my countrymen will bear tes- 
timony. 

" Your noble father is a friend of mine, and I feel a 
love for you commensurate with his worth. He is fore- 
most hi the ranks of spiritual intelligences, and ready to 
act when duty calls. 

" My friend, I sympathize with you in your arduous 
undertaking; but let me assure you that your reward 
will be greater than the suffering you have endured. 
Yes, most nobly you have fought against error ; and you 
will yet place the banner of freedom high upon the battle- 
ment of truth. Farewell, noble scion of a noble man ! 
"Geo. Washington." 

Having read this " effusion," the author, being an im- 
pressional medium, it was given to him, as Media would 
say, to intone this utterance, staccato, as musicians would 
say. 

" Ugh ! Is it possible, that you, ' Robert Hare, M.D., 
Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, Graduate of Yale Col- 
lege and Harvard University, Associate of the Smithson- 
ian Institute, and member of various learned Societies' — 
is it possible that you could so completely absorb and de- 
liquesce, without having first applied some sort of a re- 
spectable test to prove the identity of Washington!" 
That such an utterance was natural from an impressional 
medium, is quite evident. 

No body can believe that Washington would be caught 
in such a farce ; if this were his spirit he has sadly retro- 
gressed. But we should like to know, if Bacon and Swe- 
denborg may have been personated, why not the spirit 
of the Doctor's father ? As to the " valuable informa- 
tion," it has no more claim to our acceptance, than that 
received from the Lord and the Baron. And as to its 



AN ADDEESS TO EECEEANT CHEISTIANS. 3 8 1 

being "sanctioned by a convocation of spirits," we have 
no evidence that they were not evil spirits practising on 
the Doctor's credulity ; for not a single test was employed, 
so far as appears from his book, by which their identity 
might be established. We therefore must judge of this, 
by what the spirits say to the Doctor, and this internal 
evidence is dead against them. There is not a single 
thing uttered, that does not look very much like what per- 
sonating demons would say, on our theory. They say 
nothing and do nothing incompatible with it. On the 
other hand they teach many things utterly inconsistent 
with reason, perfectly heathenish in then- nature, and evi- 
dently pernicious in their tendency. And when we add 
to this, the assurances of ancients and moderns, as to the 
deceptions practised by spirits ; the inadequacy of all tests, 
but that of the Bible, to detect them, what shall we say 
of such, who are accepted and relied upon, without the 
ordeal of one respectable test ? 

We feel ourselves therefore perfectly sure of our 
ground, when we say, that after you have thrown the 
Bible away, you have no means whatever adequate to 
elude deception : and as you accept the contents of the 
volumes whence our quotations are made, we must say 
that you are grossly deceived, by all the evidence that 
•can expose the deception of spirits, mentioned by 1am- 
blichus and others, to the glare of the day. Therefore 
the burden of proof is fairly on you, and you must " face 
the music," or brave the shame. 

The Bible, which your fraternity repudiate, as the only 
rule of faith and practice, and which some of your writers 
blaspheme, reveals the existence and agency of " the De> 
vil and his angels." These are the evil spirits, who are 
equal to every word and work hitherto proceeding from 
the agencies of your movement wherever and however ex- 



388 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

erted ; and as the spirits are to be judged of by what they 
do and say, we appeal to the doctrines they teach, to the 
terrible effects already produced, to the lack of benefit 
conferred, and to the evident tendency of the whole ma- 
chinery as delineated in these pages, to prove that the 
Devil and his angels, whose existence and operations 
Christ and his apostles distinctly teach, and you as dis- 
tinctly deny, are the authors and operators of all the 
prodigies, wonders, and marvellous occurrences ; and of 
all the communications, intelligence, poetic, prosaic, and 
magniloquent effusions, embracing sense and nonsense, 
common and uncommon, from the day when the murdered 
peddler made the rumpus about his carcass in the cellar 
of Mr. Fox, down to the last fantastic trick of demons 
gamboling through the brains and twanging the nerves 
of your learned and unlearned media. This is our belief, 
and further we think that the completest part of the 
diabolical contrivance, is your asserted persuasion of the 
nonentity of its real authors ! If such be really your per- 
suasion, it is a remarkable verification of the scriptural 
announcement, that as a judicial act, " God shall send 
them" who are the willing dupes of "lying wonders," 
" strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." Now 
the wonders of Modern Spiritualism are not lying, because 
they are not true facts ; but this is their character be s 
cause they are real facts wrought to effect and confirm 
your belief in lies. Thus the magicians of Egypt, by 
their wonders, persuaded Pharaoh, and God judicially 
hardened his heart, that for his abominable crimes against 
Israel, he might be left to bring upon himself swift de- 
struction, and such was the result. 

The design of these performances shows, that they are 
produced by no other but the contrivance and agency of 
the Devil, and that is to make man heathenish in doctrine 



AN ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 389 

and in life. It may be worth while to look at this point 
for a moment. One of your leaders says : " We insist that 
the real character of the spirits is most clearly revealed by 
what they do and say?'' We accept this as a sure test. 
Now we will begin with the latter : what do they say ? 
We refer you to the various specimens of spirit-literature 
we have collected ; and we hesitate not to affirm, that 
the common sense of mankind intuitively will pronounce 
the whole of them the veriest brain-dribble that ever 
oozed. Some of them no man can read, without incessant 
interruption by his own involuntary exclamations. Can 
it be, that Bacon, Locke, Webster, Channing, and others 
of their mental power and cultivation, could give vent to 
such detestable balderdash as we have quoted ? If so, 
who does not see, that their minds must have been be- 
deviled, before they could consent to utter this most 
drivelling rigmarole as evidence of their progression? 
No, no ; it can not be. We grant the intelligence, but 
it is of such a type, as to demonstrate the source of it, to 
every one that reads retaining his wits. It comes from 
personating demons, the underlings of Satan. 

This is made most evident by the doctrines taught. 

1. Of God, we have this descriptive phraseology : 

"Do you mean to teach that God is distinct from 

Nature ? 

" No ; Mother-Nature is not essentially different from 
Father-God. Nature is a negative part of the Positive 
Principle — even as man's body is the negative part of his 
Mind. There is not one thing Avhich is body, and another 
which is spirit ; neither is there one thing which is Na- 
ture, and another which is God. No ; there is but one 
Harmonium, Dlimitable ; hi its positive aspects, ' Father- 
God' — in its negative departments, ' Mother-Nature.' 
Between Father-God and Mother-Nature, as I have 
affirmed, mankind come into existence. Hence man is 



390 A THEEE-FOLD TEST. 

legitimately and truly a child of both Nature and God. 
Nature is the Wife of the Divine Principle, and the Di- 
vine Principle is the Husband of Nature." {Davis's 
Penetralia, pp. 254, 255.) 



You will remember that in previous quotations, Swe- 
denborg teaches the identification of spirit with matter ; 
also how he insists, that God is a principle; and that the 
soul is apart of God himself. 

It is impossible not to see, that Pantheism is one of the 
great distinctive features of your adopted religion ; but 
Pantheism was the great doctrine of the Hindoo philosophy, 
of Pythagorianism, of JEpicurianism, of Stoicism, of 
Gnosticism, and of Manicheism / therefore, Modern 
Spiritualism belongs to that family of systems denoted by 
the more general name of Heathenism. 

This is made more evident by the unity of sentiment 
existing among our spiritualistic authors, the amanueuses 
of the spirits, on the subject of creation. The Hindoo 
Philosophy, and many others, taught the theory of develop- 
ment, by which souls were evolved from one part of God, 
and matter from another. "We have quoted our au- 
thority for this idea as characteristic of Spiritualism. 

In relation to the future world, the spheres of Spiritual- 
ism bear a close resemblance to the Mohammedan para- 
dises ; while the future life is much the same as that of 
Platonism. According to your system it is quite appar- 
ent that God can bear no moral relation to man ! there- 
fore no legal system can come from him called the moral 
law. But " where there is no law, there is no transgres- 
sion ;" hence sin has no moral quality This, yes, this, 
Gentlemen Spiritualists, is your system — and, if in your 
estimation Paul tells the truth, you are Atheists, that is, 
" without God, and without hope in the world." You 



AN ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 391 

will pardon us for speaking as plainly, as your authors 
have done of others. 

2. Since your adopted Theology gives such a view of 
God, as was incorporated in the most abject forms of heath- 
enism, it logicaUy follows that your Anthropology should 
be equally erroneous, and repulsive to the consciousness 
of our nature. Accordingly we find in the writings of 
your authors, such sentiments respecting man as ought 
to follow such sentiments respecting God. Here is a 
specimen : 

" How many persons are there in the Godhead ? 

" There are in the Godhead and God-body (that is to 
say, in the imperishable Mansions of Father-God and 
Mother-Nature) all the persons that were ever developed 
on any star in the firmament or on the earth beneath ; all 
men, all spirits, all angels, all archangels and seraphs, 
which people the immeasurable spheres of life and anima- 
tion ; for we five and move and have our being in the 
Divine Existence, ' whose body Nature is, and God the 
soul.' » (The Penetralia, p. 27.) 

" The doctrine of the free-will or agency of the soul, 
is positively contradicted by every thing in nature and 
man." (Great Harmonia, vol ii., p. 230.) 

It would be useless to quote more, though much of the 
same sort might be presented from various authors. We 
are told that man has no free-will, that he is the creature 
of a fatal necessity ; nay, he is but the refinement of mat- 
ter in his very soul. 

It will be seen, from previous quotations, that he is not 
answerable to God at all. Why should he be ? Having 
no moral freedom, he is not a sinner, for sin as commonly 
understood, does not and can not exist, being only mis- 
fortune, or the inconvenience of un propitious circumstances, 



392 A THEEE-EOLD TEST. 

and whatever crime he may be guilty of, it is not to be 
laid to the activity of his free-will or the wickedness of 
his moral nature, for he has neither ; but it is to be ac- 
credited to his bad position, and to a combination of cir- 
cumstances over which he has no control. He therefore 
is not a responsible being, for there is no moral law with 
its penalty to be executed by God, since God is only a 
principle ! And as there is no law, so there is no gospel 
of salvation ; since there is nothing to be saved from, and 
consequently no Saviour. 

Now, just think, Gentlemen Spiritualists, see how ad- 
mirably this operates, according to Pat's account of the 
matter, as given to the writer. One man murders 
another. Provided he escapes the halter, he shall do well 
enough in both worlds. Pat said, such an one would be 
uneasy in his conscience ; but then this need not be, for 
conscience we are told, is a thing of education ; and if it be 
educated in one way, so may it be in another. Accord- 
ing to this expositor from the spheres, the soul can not 
be held responsible for any thing done by the passionate 
animal spirit ! Besure, it must make an atonement, not 
to the moral law, for there is none; not to God, for he is 
a principle ; but to nature, for becoming inharmonious ! 
Thus leaving the world, a bad man goes into a state of 
happiness, which is limited only by his contracted capacity 
to enjoy : but no matter how great or numerous his ini- 
quities, he is in a much better state than when on earth. 
Here is the evidence, as quoted by Dr. Hare, and coming 
from the spirit-world : 

" No man is in a morally worse state, all things consi- 
dered, by reason of passing into the spirit-world. The 
worst even are, if any way affected, in a better state there 
than in the flesh. They whose spirit sphere was purer, 
find themselves proportionally blessed. Many remain very 



AN ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 393 

long in the lower spheres, where, though enabled to enjoy 
existence in the clegee possible at such a distance froni 
the divine focus of blesedness, they are ' spirits in prison,' 
and wretched in comparison with those in the paradisaical 
spheres. Their existence is a blessing to them even while 
thus loio, and there is no such place or state as a hell of 
unmitigated, hopeless misery. Meantime, God, angels, 
and all the higher spirits, are for ever seeking the eleva- 
tion of the inferior spirits, by all just, wise, and appro- 
priate means. And no one, however low and sluggish 
of progress, will finally fail to be attracted upward, obe- 
diently to the divine laws, from one degree to another, 
and from one sphere to another, till he reach the heavenly 
mansion." {Spiritualism Dem., pp. 322, 323.) 

But we are not sure that this is not an exaggeration 
of future misery, which by the way is a misnomer, because 
it is not felt to be such, and ought not to be, for it is 
unreasonable that diversity of condition should follow 
diversity of so called moral character, when there can be 
none, and when natural inability frees one from responsi- 
bility. Thus we are told by our divinely-enlightened 
Doctor on all such subjects : 

" It must be conceded, then, that the prodigious diver- 
sity between virtue and vice is the consequence of con- 
tingencies, which are no more under the control of the 
individual afi'ected than the color of his hair or the num- 
ber of cubits in his stature." {Ibid., p. 138.) 

Therefore man is irresponsible for his sins, because he 
can not avoid committing them. On this we have some- 
thing to the point in an author already quoted. (The 
answer is from spirits.) 

" Suppose that bad actions can not not be avoided, as 
we perceive every day, is he who commits the evil pun- 
ished for it ?' ' Yes ; for at his death he appears before 



394 A THXEE-EOLD TEST. 

God, who has ever counselled him to do good, who de- 
sires naught but good ; he then reprimands him by re- 
minding him of all the bad acts of his life, pointing out 
to him, with mildness, the road he ought to have taken ; 
recommends him to improve his conduct, and places him 
in a society suitable to his tastes.' " ( Celest. Tel., vol. 
L, p. 10.) 

The only punishment then for the wicked, is a " repri- 
mand" by the great principle, God, and an assignment to 
a place and society suitable to their taste. And as that 
taste improves, they rise in outward degrees of happiness 
as they rise in inward purity and refinement. In the 
words of old Pythagoras : 

"The condition hi which men are born has great 
effect on their condition here. You do not expect the 
ignorant boor, the vagabond who roams your streets, to 
be as elevated as yourselves. Why ? Because the cir-. 
cumstances in which he was reared, and over which he 
had no control, made him ignorant, vicious, and criminal. 
But perhaps in the infinity of future ages, you will behold 
the power of that vagabond's mind transcend the united 
strength of Newton and Humboldt." {Life in the 
Spheres, p. 127.) 

Such is the glorious prospect of " vagabonds" in the 
heaven of Spiritualism ; which is not outdone by the re- 
presentations of the Koran respecting the sensuality of the 
Mohammedan paradise ; for we are informed that : 

" Another feature is, that whether the connubial tie en- 
dures or not is optional. Hence those who have not found 
their matrimonial connection a source of happiness in this 
world, are at liberty to seek a new hymeneal union in the 
spirit-world. Where there have been a plurality of hus- 
bands or wives, those unite who find themselves happy in 
doing so. But, as if to indemnify mortals for the crosses 



AN ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 395 

in marriage or in love, or for the dreariness of mundane 
celibacy, all are destined in the spheres to find a counter- 
part with whom they may be happy, there being pecu- 
liarly ardent, pleasurable emotions attached to the connu- 
bial union in the spheres, which mortals can not under- 
stand." (Hare's Letter.) 

Now we appeal to the rationality of mankind to decide 
upon the question, whether this be not a proffering of 
bounty to the criminal, and the extension of encourage- 
ment and comfort to the vilest of the vile, ha the prosecu- 
tion of all kinds of wickedness ? We ask, whether there 
could be a more powerful influence to enervate the ma- 
jesty of human law, and to break down its restraints upon 
the wicked ! Could there be a more effectual contrivance 
to advance the cause of evil ? Only let a bad man be as- 
sured of happiness in the lowest sphere, where he shall 
be assigned a place according to his taste, and whence he 
shall progress until he shall ultimately gain the highest 
grade of glory, and where is there a motive to induce 
him to change his course ? He is not responsible for the 
circumstances which make him bad. The diversity be- 
tween virtue and vice, being the consequence of contin- 
gency, he can have no moral character ; and therefore he 
has nothing to fear, but all to hope for ! Now by the 
testimony of Scripture, this is the very scheme the Devil 
and his angels would be most likely to concoct, to beguile 
and ruin the souls of men. 

As to what the spirits do, we refer you to a previous 
chapter where some of their work is given in historical 
detail; and we need not enlarge. But then, you will say, 
do not the spirits teach morality? Certainly they do, 
but at the same time teach other things which make it 
quite indifferent whether their lessons on morality be 
heeded or not. Hence this is a ruse, more effectually to 



396 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

mislead you ; and for the truth of this, we refer you to 
lamblichus. But if it were not, the doctrines of God, 
man, and futurity, are enough to nullify any possible good 
influence they might otherwise have ; for what is morality 
to a being that has no moral agency, to whom a great 
principle, God, can hold no moral relation, and over whom 
there is no moral law, respecting whom there is no moral 
guilt, and therefore no moral penalty either in this world 
or the next ! 

Pardon us, Gentlemen Spiritualists : The whole thing 
is a vast cheat, so impudently transparent, that no man 
or woman ought to be misled by it ; and we greatly mar- 
vel that you can consent to surrender your souls to a 
faith, that ought to make the devil blush. But he has not 
made it for himself, nor for any spirit out of " the form." 
They do not believe one word of it. Its whole design 
is to make you believe "the doctrines of demons? to alien- 
ate your hearts from Christ and his cause, to produce 
within you a contempt for the Gospel, to lead you to 
spurn the atonement of the Son of God as the only hope for 
salvation, and so to sensualize your minds with unworthy 
ideas of the employments and enjoyments of heaven, as 
to harden your hearts in reliance upon a false hope. If 
he succeed in this, all the cures, all the wonders, all the 
solemn nothings, all the tender and tough sentiments, 
all the gorgeous imagery, all the friendship, love, and 
interest that personated dear departed friends can feign — 
all these benefits of which Spiritualism boasts, he can afford 
to multiply a thousand-fold, and will say to you as he did 
to Christ : '•'•All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt 
fall down and worship me.'''' Satan can not be supposed 
to have come in his native repulsiveness to practise upon 
Christ when he made such an offer, for that woidd have 
destroyed the temptation ; he therefore came in the form 



AN ADDRESS TO RECREANT CHRISTIANS. 39*7 

of an angel of light, and the additional test he gave, was 
a very pious regard for, and a ready quotation of Scrip- 
ture ; it was not, however, until he ventured to teach 
Christ a false worship, that he was instantly repulsed. 
No matter then what tests may he now offered, the in- 
culcation of doctrine obviously at war with first principles, 
and an insult to the universal conscience and heart of 
mankind, is an mmiistakable test of the evil origin of your 
adopted cause. If therefore you do not abandon this 
ruinous system of necromancy and sorcery, it follows, 
either that Christ teas the worst man that ever lived, or 
that you shall be banished from God for ever. Both of 
these alternatives are contrary to Spiritualism, but one 
of them must be true. The Scriptures thus teach : The 
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. lie that 
believeth not God, hath made him a liar / because he be- 
lieveth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this 
is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and 
this life is in his Son. He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son, shall 
not see life / but the wrath of God abideth on him. The 
dilemma is perfect. If you choose, in the face of the 
various proofs against Spiritualism given in the previous 
pages, to adhere to it, be it so ; we have done what we 
deemed an imperative duty, and you must abide the issue 
of your own choice. May God give you to see your 
error, and to repent of your sin, that through Christ you 
may be saved from wrath to come. 



398 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 



CHAPTER XL 

A WORD TO THE CHURCHES. 

Dear Brethren: When our beloved brother Paul 
labored among the Gentiles, he had constantly to meet 
and combat the same speculative opinions, the same false 
doctrines, and the same necromantic practices that have, 
to our astonishment, arisen and deluded millions within 
the last few years. Pointedly, he uses these remarkable 
words : " Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may 
be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we 
wrestle not against fiesh and blood, but against princi- 
palities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness 
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." 
(Eph. 6 : 11, 12.) 

The antithesis of this passage leaves no doubt as to the 
Apostle's meaning. " Flesh and blood," signify men, 
mortal enemies. The other appellatives are technical 
terms applied to spirits, immortal enemies. These spirit- 
ual powers are distributed into their constituent parts, 
arch-demons of commanding influence, and the rulers of 
darkness ; but Paul here means that particular kind of 
darkness by which the Ephesians were surrounded. 
" Your struggle is not with men, but with arch-demons, 
with the monarchs of this surrounding darkness, with 



A WORD TO THE CHURCHES. 399 

wicked spirits of the invisible world," In other words, 
" Your fight is not with men merely, but with the devil 
and his angels." But what were the peculiarities of that 
darkness ? When we consider that Ephesus was a 
Grecian city, we are not troubled for an answer. Demon- 
ology and Necromancy were its constituent parts. 

Now we are expressly told, in different parts of Scrip- 
ture, that the self-same enemies that Paul alludes to, are 
to make a special onset upon the Church and the world, 
in the " last days." The two thousand years under the 
Patriarchal, and the two thousand under the Mosaic, will 
probably be followed with but two thousand under the 
Christian dispensation. In general terms we are told 
by our Saviour, that " there shall arise false Christs, and 
false prophets, and they shall show great signs and won- 
ders, (as tests ;) insomuch that, if it were possible, they 
shall deceive the very elect." This implies not only that 
they shall deceive many, but actually delude many who 
sustain an outward, visible relation to his Church. But 
this fact is more specifically referred to, in 2 Thes. 2 : 8-12 ; 
1 Tim. 4 : 1 ; 2 Tim. 3 : 1-8 ; 1 John 2 : 18, 19; Jude 
18; Rev. 16 : 14. These passages, collectively taken, 
make out a very strong statement of what is to happen 
in the " last days," a phrase applicable to our times. 

Our argument is short. Paul assigned the facts of 
demonology, the doctrines of demons and necromancy to 
the immediate efficient agency of Satan ; but these same 
facts are developed in modern Spiritualism ; therefore 
they come from the same source now, according to the 
prophetic Scriptures, which while opposed by this move- 
ment, are proved to be the true revelation of God, by 
the fact of the movement itself. We are well aware that 
Popery has been considered the fulfillment of these pre- 
dictions ; but what is Popery but baptized paganism ? 



400 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Through it, the fulfillment has been going on for centuries; 
but Popery tfoes not exhaust them. A bolder fulfillment 
is in the revival of heathenism without the pomp of Popery. 
The warp is the same, the woof only is changed in 
Spiritualism. Now we are at a loss to know what might 
be added, either in the way of necromantic performances 
or of doctrinal teachings, to convince any considerate 
mind of the truth of our position. The evidence seems 
to be satisfactory and complete. 

But perhaps it will be said, we ought not hastily to 
venture upon this conclusion, for Science may yet discover 
that all these wonders can be explained by laws of nature 
not yet understood. We confess we have little hope of 
this, after such attempts as we have noticed. Nothing, 
as yet, has been explained. But should any future at- 
tempt apparently succeed, we do not think that it will 
alter the case, except in quieting investigation, and lulling 
into indifference ; for we must believe that spirits can 
operate in the world, in no other way than by conformity 
to established laws of nature. It is only in its religious 
aspect, that Spiritualism now has any claims to serious 
consideration. Its arrogant pretensions deserve nothing 
but indignant ridicule. Hostile to all true religion, and 
impertinent in its preposterous assumptions, it can only 
awaken the most unmitigated contempt in the breast 
of every Christian man. But for all that, it is our imper- 
ative duty to understand its nature and its movements. 
Whatever may be thought of its physical manifestations, 
there can be no question as to its moral phenomena. We 
have proved it a revival of heathenism, and by the testi- 
mony of Paul, it is to be accredited to the devil and his 
angels. Its demonology and its necromancy furnish all 
the data we need for the estimate of its true origin, na- 
ture, and tendency. Its adherents, by the exposition of 



A W0ED TO THE CHUECHES. 401 

their spirits, must consider God as a mere principle, and 
man as a mere animal, and all moral relations and laws, 
as mere figments. With this speculative belief, obtained 
through necromancy, it has walked through Christendom, 
and in the incredibly short space of eight years, has subju- 
gated millions to its sway. To consider this phenomenon 
any other than the work of the devil, is as good as denying 
the agency, nay, the existence of the devil altogether ; for 
if he has not done this, we should be glad to know what 
kind of agency he exerts, and what is the peculiarity of 
the evidence by which his existence is established. 

Other interests, however, besides those of religion, are 
threatened by this movement ; and you may yet be called 
upon not only to defend your religion, but your civil in- 
stitutions; for if Spiritualists must be obedient to the 
behests of their " immortal advisers" in one particular, 
so must they in all. Their sincerity and zeal are securi- 
ties for this. Now the spirits teach, that the Church is 
to be assailed and uprooted, not only, but that important 
political changes are to be made: and for this purpose 
Spiritualists are yet to form a great party who are to go to 
the polls, to carry out the scheme of unchristianizing our 
political institutions, and of emancipating the land from 
the law of the Sabbath. And who will say that the same 
fanaticism that has led them in one direction, will not lead 
them in another? 

Their prospects here, are to be estimated by the affini- 
ties Spiritualism may have for other popular errors. It 
will have been seen, that all who deny the proper divinity 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, desire that all men be freed 
from allegiance to " popular theology," and thus far, they 
coincide with Spiritualism. In a sermon preached by the 
Rev. W. G. Hetee, pastor of the Unitarian Church, 
Rochester, on June 29th, 1856, "On Spiritualism," hav- 
ing announced his embrace of it, the preacher said : 



402 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

" As might naturally be expected, the most determined 
opposition to Spiritualism comes from the pulpit — the 
common enemy of all new truths. Minds petrified into 
system may be broken, but not bent. Prejudice is the 
safeguard of ignorance, and bigotry is always ready to 
extinguish with the iron hand of force, the first faint 
light that threatens to reveal its own ugly features. And 
yet, what is it that Spiritualism offers to do ? Merely to 
give us religion and humanity in place of oxthodoxy — 
merely to interpret Christianity by its facts, and to re- 
commend its divine precepts by the most forcible, convinc- 
ing, and beautiful truths. 

" In regard to the doctrines delivered from week to 
week in this place — in regard to a free, liberal, and rea- 
sonable religion — I see nothing but the most perfect con- 
sistency between Spiritualism and Unitarianism. Long 
as I have believed in it, I have never found it necessary to 
abandon Unitarianism for it - or, in order to give a fuller 
and freer expression to the views of what I understand 
to be Christianity, to depart from the general sense and 
scope of Scripture. I do not know that I shall ever find 
it necessary to do so. Because the manner in which 
Spiritualism is introduced, is not, however, necessary and 
proper in itself, equal to the demands of our fastidious and 
nice sense of fitness, shall we be so foolish as to reject it? 
I know the influence fashion and example have upon some 
minds, and that there are many people in the world who 
so little value inward integrity and moral purity, as to be 
willing to sacrifice them to appearances — to what is 
thought to be a respectable position in society. But I 
thank God that Unitarians have not this worst and most 
debasing of all vices to answer for. They are already 
unpopular ; and in preferring their independence to their 
popularity, they are sure at least of the respect of the 
truly good and true. Though they were in error, this is 
the last thing in the world a wise and gracious Deity 
would condemn them for. * * * 

" And now I would remark, in conclusion, that in thus 
bringing this subject before you this day, I have but 
sought to discharge a duty which I have thought I owed 
to truth and to conscience. I shall, probably, have no 



A WORD TO THE CHURCHES. . 403 

occasion to speak of it by name again. But I shall, 
nevertheless, remain ever faithful to its principles ; ever 
ready to profess and defend them upon fit occasion. 

" It requires no prophetic endowment to claim for 
Spiritualism an universal acceptance. That which is 
founded on fact, is capable of demonstrative proof, and 
offers all that the heart craves and the fancy delights in, 
must make its way in the world. So its influence on 
society can not readily be foretold. Its principle of ac- 
tion is love. This constitutes the whole of its creed. It 
promises nothing to faith or works, but every thing to fit- 
ness, purity, goodness, unrightness, justice, and mercy. 
It makes no arbitrary distinctions among men, but leaves 
them to choose from their own natural tendencies, their 
own place in the eternal world. Their own moral quali- 
ties will be their judges. God sacrifices no soul to his own 
glory. That were an absurdity. He asks obedience to 
no law but the law of nature, of which we ourselves are 
to be the voluntary executors." {Spirit Tel., vol. v., no. 13.) 

This extract fully justifies a remark heretofore made, 
that Unitarians have nothing to part with, in embracing 
this cause. 

In Rupp's " History of Religious Denominations," we 
find the following from good authority. " Very gener- 
ally, TTniversalists have come to entertain, what are com- 
monly called Unitarian views of God, of Christ, of the 
Holy Spirit, and of Atonement : at least there appears to 
be a very general similarity between us and the English 
Unitarians, not only on those subjects, but also on the 
nature and duration of punishment, on the subject of the 
devil," etc., (p. 730.) Universalists therefore ought to go in 
with them. Swedenborgians also ought to coalesce with 
our Spiritualists, because their great apostle has himself 
figured largely in this movement, and his writings are 
honored by Spiritualists. The Rev. Mr. Hayden, a min- 
ister of the " New Church," in Portland, has written a 
work on Spiritualism, which we have read with interest. 



404 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

He takes substantially our view of the subject as to its 
demonology and necromancy, but thinks it will advance 
the interests of his sect. He says, (p. 10 :) 

" We are willing to maintain, not only that these de- 
monistrations (of Spiritualism) have been permitted for 
good, but that they have already been productive of good. 
Multitudes of well-disposed and enlightened spirits have 
no doubt thus communicated. They have disclosed to 
their own friends and to the public mind of the world 
important facts of which it was not before aware." 

If this be so, then we do not see why Mr. H. should labor 
upon the question — " Why are the revelations made through 
Swedenborg entitled to more implicit beliefs or worthy 
of greater credit, than are the communications received 
through the Spiritual mediums of the day ?" In our judg- 
ment, his argument for the Why, entirely fails. He has 
an idea that Spiritualists will eventually separate, and the 
better part will gradually be led into his " New Jeru- 
salem" ; but we think the chances are largely in favor of 
a movement in the opposite direction. Mr. H. says of 
Spiritualism : " By its own universal confession, it eschews 
all divine claims, and voluntarily places itself in the 
ranks of miscellaneous communications from the spiritual 
world." We think this author is mistaken here ; and 
any well-read Spiritualist may join issue with him, and 
successfully show that the " divine claims" of the one are 
worth as much as those of the other, using Mr. Hayden's 
work as a text-book. 

The various forms of infidelity, and the multitudes of 
nothing arianism may be counted upon in the event of a 
crusade against the Church and "pojmlar theology." 
Such, just now, is the position of things ; and we must 
prepare for the coming struggle. 

But for this very position of things, the Church herself 



A WORD TO THE CHURCHES. 405 

is not a little responsible, in our opinion. She has been 
unfaithful to her Lord, by being unfaithful to the poor, 
and to the masses thus deceived, who will beyond a doubt 
fearfully retaliate at the ballot-box, whenever they have a 
chance. A deep line of broad distinction has been drawn 
in the Chicrch, whose tendency has been to separate popu- 
lar Christianity from the common people, and confine it to 
the ranks of the " well-to-do" of the world, and of the rich. 
Hence in our cities and large towns, where the masses con- 
gregate, and whence flow the most commanding influence 
that permeates the country, the religion of Jesus Christ is 
made so costly that the poor can not afford to pay ; much 
less can they afford to brave such contrasts as are made, 
in violation of James 2 : 1-5. This is not only contrary 
to the letter and spirit of Christianity, but actually sub- 
versive of the Gospel plan. " To the poor the Gospel is 
preached," was one of the signs of the Messiah given to 
John. To keep it still as a sign of the benevolent plan 
of Jesus, is alike our policy and our duty ; because, as a 
general thing, the poor are almost entirely dependent upon 
the pulpit for general religious principles. They have 
not the means to buy books of a religious character, nor 
the time to read them ; hence their dependence upon 
oral instruction. They form the mass : hence we shall 
probably see the day when we shall discover, too late, that 
our most expensive and most unfortunate operation has 
been the perversion of the means of grace, by multiplying 
the difficulties that he between the indigent poor, and the 
enjoyment and comfort of the Gospel, which ought to be 
free as the mountain-air. 

But the evil does not stop here. The simplicity of the 
Gospel will not answer itching ears, and the doctrines of 
the Gospel do not suit carnal tastes ; hence if we may 
judge from our Saturday newspaper lists of " Religious 



406 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

Notices," the Gospel must often give way to disquisitions 
on slavery or knavery of some kind or other; or to 
" Pulpit pictures," like that of " Belshazzar's feast," and 
kindred topics, done in "hifulatin," and set off with 
effective artistic music, enough to make one melt away hi 
the transcendental emotions of the religion of the senses. 
Think of one who takes this for true religion, whose ima- 
gination and intellect have been gratified, but whose 
conscience has not been aimed at, whose heart has not 
been ill at ease, under the close application of doctrinal 
truth, and whose starving soul is sensible of some want, 
but unable to define it — imagine such an one suddenly 
bereft of a friend, and induced to attend a spiritualistic 
circle. A well-managed appeal coming from a demon 
personating that friend goes directly to the heart, where 
the doctrines of the Gospel ought to have been sent long- 
before. Nature is overcome, and having received no 
general principles as the great land-marks of religious 
thought and sentiment, from the pulpit, the man has 
nothing to protect him from the fatal snare. He becomes 
a Spiritualist, and finding he has something for his heart 
to feed upon, he rejects what he had been taught to re- 
gard as evangelical religion ? " We speak that we do 
know, and testify that we have seen." 

Hence, though argued illogically, we lament to say, 
that there is too much truth in the following, and similar 
paragraphs, written by Spiritualists as the result of their 
observation, before they became such. Dr. Dexter says : 

" Facts known and seen of all men render it daily more 
obvious that the functions of the Christian ministry are 
falling into a mere mechanical round of ceremonies, per- 
formed mainly from the impulse of time-honored custom, 
and that all the existing forms of religious worship are 
fast degenerating into meaningless mummery from which 
all spiritual life and power have departed. The really 



A WORD TO THE CHURCHES. 407 

religious, the really spiritiially-minded (of which we are 
happy to say there are still a few in the Church) see and 
acknowledge this, and are constantly sending forth their 
lamentations from pulpit and press and in the conference- 
room, at this great decline of spirituality among those 
who should be the world's spiritual exemplars and teach- 
ers. This moribund condition of spirituality in the Church 
is becoming more and more conspicuous, and the hope of 
its being remedied from resources within itself is con- 
stantly cmninishing." (Spiritualism, vol. ii., p. 61.) 

Now we allow there are isolated cases, where facts 
lead to lamentable conclusions ; but to argue from these 
a general character for the Church and her ministry, is to 
do a stock-jobbing business in falsehood. But nothing 
better could be expected from the enemy. We only re- 
gret there are any cases of departure from the simplicity 
of the Gospel, and any room for attacking the Church 
for a wanton prodigality of expenditure upon costly 
Christian equipage, which she must soon feel an un- 
manageable encumbrance, like David in Saul's armor; 
and which is at the expense of her efficiency and spiritual 
life in the cause of her Master. 

But, disce ab hoste; it is not the first time her enemies 
have taught the Church a wholesome lesson. "We must 
return to first principles ; we must be guided by the in- 
nate sense of the fitness of things, and not by an unholy 
ambition, subordinating the spirituality of the Gospel to 
the counteracting religion of the senses. If the Church 
had expended her energies, as she might have done, to 
build herself up with living stones, and decorate herself 
with the ornaments of the Christian character, such an 
ugly fungus as Spiritualism could never have grown here. 
What the issue will be, is only known to Him who con- 
trols all tilings. 

As to the means of meeting this enemy, we need to 



408 A THREE-FOLD TEST. 

look to the Head of the Church for wisdom and strength, 
in adopting Paul's advice given in Eph. 6 : 13-17. Christ- 
ianity has more than once put down deinonology and ne- 
cromancy, and she is able to do it again. The Gospel of 
Jesus Christ skillfully directed, is all that is needed. Our 
business is to spread the Gospel through the masses. 
Send the doctrines of Jesus, by the living voice and the 
press, to aU classes of men. Exhibit to them the doctrine, 
the tohole doctrine, and the entire heathenism of this spawn 
of moral evil, ejected by apocalyptic frogs. Portray the 
popular sophisms of its various defenses, and while the 
religion of Christ can not be degraded by the remotest 
comparison, its great truths recognized alike by the Bible, 
the rationality and moral conscience of mankind, in their 
lucid statement and earnest application, will be brought 
to bear with success against it. 

The writer makes no attempt at dictation. Such is 
not his meaning. He simply gives a sample of the facts, 
laid hold of by Spiritualists for the purpose of vitu- 
peration. For one he is thankful that they have struck 
in this direction. Now let Christian men meet this mat- 
ter as it ought to be met. The ladies and gentlemen 
who have committed themselves to Spiritualism, are sin- 
cere, and in earnest ; and therefore are entitled to the 
serious consideration of Christian men. Let the Church 
do her tohole duty ; then, " when the enemy shall come 
in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a stand- 
ard against him." 



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